Lost Amongst The Crowd
by NikkiMatthews
Summary: AU: What happens when the Queen of the Nerds is forced to tutor the school's Queen Bee? A story of how even the most unlikely of characters can have so much in common, and possibly even fall in love. Brittana! Rated M for later chapters.
1. Prologue

_Disclaimer: I do not own Glee or any of its characters. _

**Lost Amongst the Crowd**

Have you ever felt alone? Not just alone, but lost and alone. Like no one can relate to you? Have you ever felt like it wasn't your fault? Like you are trying to be the perfect person, the one that everyone else wants you to be and because you're always trying to be someone else, you don't even know who the real you is? You feel like you know, but you really don't have a clue. You walk around aimlessly, trying your hardest to be what you know you should be. You feel like you are the best actor in the world because you act every day. You are never yourself. This scares you because you wonder if you even know who you really are.

You're not alone.


	2. I Had No Idea

The beginning of a new school year is always the same. You walk into the building and it smells the same as it did last year, reminding you that nothing has changed in the three months that you've been away. Santana Lopez roamed the familiar halls of McKinley High School on her first official day of her junior year. As she approached her locker, a familiar figure came into view; Quinn Fabray, her best friend since before she can remember.

"Quinn!" Santana yelled as she picked up her pace, practically running toward the locker Quinn is standing in front of.

"Santana! How are you? Gosh, we haven't seen each other in so long," Quinn pouted as they hugged.

"We saw each other a week ago at the mall Quinn," Santana corrected as they parted.

"Like I said, we haven't seen each other in forever!"

As they exchanged words about the life altering events that occurred since they last saw each other just days ago, a group of jocks down the hall began tormenting some underclassman. David Karofsky, head of the football meat heads and quarterback, knocked some books out of a small freshman's hands. David's right-hand-meat-head, Azimio, laughed with David as the small and terrified freshman geek tried to pick his things back up.

"Hey, welcome to high school, NERD!" David picked the freshman up and placed him in a nearby garbage can.

"Dave, can you please stop doing that?" Brittany Pierce, the queen bee on campus, pleaded. She is the most beautiful girl on campus and is dating the leader of the meat heads. Brittany has long, blonde hair, piercing blue eyes, and stands at 5'8". She is the vision that every other girl on campus wishes they were.

"But, it's an initiation thing," David explained as the nerd cowered in the trashcan.

"I thought those were only in cars?" Brittany wondered. _Why would he be talking about ignitions_?

Yes, Brittany is one of those popular kids who never absorbed anything and never understood what was going on. She also interpreted words in the wrong way and said the most random, nonsensical things. Despite all of this, her status at the top of the McKinley High food chain remains untarnished.

"I can't believe that the administrators let Dave and Azimio get away with that crap," Quinn commented as she watched the tormenting of the underclassman come to a close.

"Me either," a man's voice came from behind Quinn and Santana.

Mike Change and Tina Cohen-Chang stood behind Quinn and Santana. Mike and Tina have been dating since freshman year and they are inseparable.

"Hey, looks like the band is back together," Santana commented as they all stood in the hallway facing each other. Santana, Mike, Tina, and Quinn are all actually in a band together, but they didn't really practice over the summer.

Everyone laughed at Santana's words before Tina chimed in, "We really should practice sometime. I haven't played in months. I probably can't even keep a beat anymore."

"Yeah totally," Quinn added.

Before anything else could be said, the bell for the first classes of the day to begin rang, echoing off the lockers lining the halls. The friends said their goodbyes and were off to class.

Santana trotted off to her first class of the day, Biology. _Why am I even taking this class?_ Santana wondered as she entered the room. She hates biology with a burning passion and still can't understand why she's taking the class. What's even worse is that the class that she wanted to be in the most is taking place during this hour, creative writing, but instead she's taking biology.

As Santana entered the room she looked around, noticing a few familiar faces. One of the said familiar faces is Brittany Pierce. Santana envied Brittany. Brittany had the looks, the all-star boyfriend, the infectious personality, and the popularity. Santana wasn't usually one to be jealous, but she couldn't help herself sometimes. It's probably because she had always wanted to be in that crowd. Santana never wanted to be the nerd. She was more or less forced to be when her parents found out that she was smarter than most kids. Santana just couldn't say no to her parents, she couldn't disappoint them, she forced herself into the current social position that she's in.

Mr. Berkley, the biology teacher with such a big mole on his upper lip that everyone was fairly certain that it had its own little ecosystem, entered the room and placed a seating chart up on the board. Everyone slowly found their new assigned seats. Santana was near the front of the room next to Sugar Motta, Brittany's best friend and queen bitch.

Mr. Berkley was just about to begin class when a student office assistant came and handed Mr. Berkley two passes. _Who gets a pass out of class on the first day?_ Santana mused as she settled into her seat.

"Miss Pierce and Miss Lopez, you're wanted in the principal's office," Mr. Berkley announced holding out the passes.

Santana and Brittany quickly leapt from their seats to retrieve the pass to the office. Everyone in class was making a sound like the two were in trouble. Brittany knew that if Santana is going to the office too that it couldn't possibly mean something bad.

The two walked in silence through the now empty halls of McKinley High. It was awkward to say the least. The head "it" girl in school walking next to the head nerd in school to the same destination wasn't a usual sight. They both entered the office. The principal, Mr. Figgins, was clearly expecting them.

"Ladies," Mr. Figgins greeted as he let Brittany and Santana into his office. He cautiously shut the door behind them and said, "Please take a seat."

Brittany and Santana wearily sat down into the seats opposite Mr. Figgins. The two girls shared a worried glance before Mr. Figgins began.

"So, do you two know why you're here?" Mr. Figgins wondered. Both girls shook their heads no. "You're here because it has come to my attention that Miss Pierce has been just barely passing her classes since freshman year."

Brittany looked down at the ground. Santana looked over to her empathetically, but Brittany didn't look up to meet her gaze.

"You, Miss Lopez are in line to be Valedictorian next year. At registration, you signed up to be a tutor, is that correct?" Mr. Figgins wondered.

"Yeah," Santana muttered under her breath. She knew that this must be super uncomfortable for Brittany. Even if they weren't friends, Santana didn't want her to have to be humiliated like this.

"Well, Miss Pierce's parents have requested that she have a tutor. What I think is that since you, Miss Lopez, have practically all the same classes as Miss Pierce, that you could be the one to tutor her."

Brittany glanced up at Santana, a clear sadness in her eyes. It wasn't sadness from having to be around Santana every day, but sadness from embarrassment.

"Of course," Santana replied trying to keep the conversation from hurting Brittany any more than it already has.

"The Pierces were hoping that you could tutor Brittany full time instead of having others to tutor. I thought that it would be a wonderful idea. If this arrangement works for both of you, then you can head back to class," Mr. Figgins leaned back in his chair proud that he had arranged for the smartest girl in school to tutor the girl who needed the most help at the school.

Once Brittany and Santana were outside the office Santana stopped Brittany from running back to class to ask, "Are you okay?"

"I…I just…" Brittany struggled to find words. "I feel like a rock sometimes."

"A rock?" Santana had no idea what Brittany was referring to.

"Yeah, a rock. Like I'm stuck on the ground, unmoving, unless someone comes by to kick me, you know?"

Santana placed a hand on Brittany's shoulder, trying to comfort her. "Brittany, you're not a rock. It's okay, I'm not going to judge you or anything. I'm only here to help you."

"Yeah right, you're the smartest girl in school, like a robot, or a cyborg, but with boobs."

Santana smirked at Brittany's humor and said, "I promise that I am only here to help, alright? We're going to get through this school year together."

"Promise?" Brittany wiped away a tear threating to stream down her face.

"Promise," Santana held out her pinky and linked it with Brittany's. Brittany smiled for the first time since they left biology class.

* * *

The school day went by like any other school day. Everyone attended their usual classes and were bored to tears with talks of how amazing this year was going to be and looking through syllabuses all day.

Then, the final period of the day approached, 8th hour. For a lot of people 8th hour was an hour to catch up on homework or sneak out of study hall to hang out with friends. For Brittany and Santana, this was their tutoring hour. Since Santana is a tutor, both girls get to spend their 8th hour in the library.

Brittany was the first one to the library, waiting nervously for Santana to arrive. Brittany hated that she had to have a tutor because it made her feel like she was worthless, like she couldn't handle school the way everyone else did. Santana walked into the library and Brittany let out a sigh of relief.

Santana walked over and sat next to Brittany at the table she was occupying. "Hey Brittany," Santana greeted as she set her things down.

"You can call me Britt, everyone else does," Brittany said as Santana got situated.

"Alright, well you can call me Santana, or San, I guess…really whatever floats your boat."

"I have a boat?" Brittany tried to recall when she bought a boat.

"Oh, um, it's not a real boat. It's a figure of speech," Santana tried to explain.

"Oh," Brittany looked down embarrassed.

Santana looked at Brittany empathetically, but knew that she wasn't going to say anything that would make the situation better so she just started with, "So, I know that we didn't really cover any new material in class today, but are there any questions that you have so far?"

"Um, not really. I know that I will, but not right now."

"Okay, well since we really don't have to do any work type stuff, we can just talk and get to know each other. If that's alright with you?" Santana offered.

"Sure. Do you want to start?" Brittany was clearly still timid around Santana, but Santana hoped to change that as soon as she possibly could.

"Sure. I am the president of the Speech and Debate team, I practically run National Honor Society, I love participating in Knowledge Bowl, and… wow, I didn't say a word about me just now did I?" Santana laughed at herself.

"It's okay, a lot of people define themselves by the things they do," Brittany said.

"Yeah, and over the past couple of years I've done just that, but I don't want to be the person who is so caught up in other things that I lose myself along the way."

Brittany looked up; her sparkling blue eyes met Santana's chocolate brown eyes. "I know how you feel. I am constantly defined by everything other than who I really am. I don't really understand why, but no one ever really seems to care enough to get to know me."

"I care," Santana added almost under her breath.

"Thanks, but you still need to go first," Brittany's mood lightened up and she smiled up at Santana.

Santana couldn't help but smile back, Brittany's smile is contagious, "Okay, for real this time. I love music. If I could I would listen to, write, sing, and play music all day long. I also love writing. I can sit at my computer for hours and hours writing stories about life, the important things, or nothing at all. I'm not as smart as everyone thinks I am, and my favorite color is red. Oh, and I love to sing. "

Brittany's smile grew and she began her little 'about me', "I love music too. Except I don't really play music, I dance to it. I've been in dancing since I was a little girl. I love it so much. Most people don't know that I dance. It's something that I usually keep to myself. I don't like being in that whole popular crowd. My favorite color is yellow, and I love to run. Oh and I do motocross."

"Yellow? Really?" Santana couldn't help but wonder.

"Yeah, not like the really super AHHHH, in your face yellow, but a nice yellow like what ducks wear. Do you know what I mean?" Brittany clearly has a different way of expressing herself than most.

"Yeah, I know what you mean," Santana giggled lightly at Brittany's expression.

"What instruments do you play?" Brittany wondered.

"I play a lot of things. I play the guitar, bass, piano, and trumpet. I love playing them all. I'm actually in a band with a few of my friends," Santana replied.

"That's so cool, I wish I was that talented," Brittany couldn't help but want to be like Santana. Santana had it all, the brains, the talent, the amazing personality, and the looks. Santana had long dark brown hair and warm brown eyes. Brittany didn't understand why Santana didn't have a boyfriend. At least she thought that she didn't have a boyfriend. There is so much that Brittany doesn't know about Santana. Brittany wanted to know so much more about her. She didn't know why she felt like she could share everything with Santana, but for some unknown reason, Brittany felt safe with her.

"I'm sure you are an amazing dancer. I wish I could dance. The only move I have is the sprinkler," Santana proceeded to demonstrate. Brittany couldn't help but laugh.

"I don't just mean like um, like…" Brittany always seemed to be at a loss for words. Santana wanted to finish her sentence and say "music," but she decided to let Brittany continue. "I just mean you're so brainy. You're the…the smartest girl in school."

"I don't know about that. Like I said, I'm not as smart as people think that I am. I just work really hard and study way too much. But, I'm not a super genius or anything," _Oh God, the way that Brittany speaks is starting to rub off on me._ Santana just shrugged.

"Look, I know that I'm not smart. I know that I don't know. I know that I'm stupid," the light in Brittany's eyes fled with her words.

Santana grabbed Brittany's hand in hers and squeezed it gently. "You are _not_ stupid. Whoever told you that was stupid, but you're not stupid."

"Just wait until we get to actual tutoring, then you'll get it. I just don't understand…anything."

"Maybe it's not that you don't understand. Maybe it's just that no one has ever been a good enough teacher for you," Santana nudged Brittany's arm.

"Maybe…" Brittany pondered Santana's words. "You know what? I think that you'll be an awesome teacher."

"I hope so." Santana blushed. Then out of nowhere, Santana started to think of Brittany's friends and how they act so much different than her. Then she remembered Brittany's earlier words about not wanting to be in the in crowd.

Brittany must have sensed that something was on Santana's mind, "What is it San?"

"Nothing," Santana lied.

"Oh please, I can tell that something's on your mind," Brittany pried.

"Alright, but don't get mad at me for asking," Santana paused waiting for a sign to continue. Brittany simply nodded. "Why do you hang around the jocks and stuff if you don't really want to. Especially since they're so…mean, and well, you're so _not_ mean."

"I'm not like you. I really don't have anything else. You have smarts. All I have are my looks. I wanted to belong somewhere and I just ended up in that crowd. I don't even like that I'm that person, but if I'm not popular, then who am I?" Brittany put everything out there.

"You're Brittany Pierce, a totally awesome person who is very underrated. You don't have to be something you don't want to be if you don't want to," Santana's words weighed on Brittany. She knew that Santana was right.

"Santana…have you ever felt like your lost in the smart people world?" Brittany wondered.

"Of course I do. I actually was one of those kids who always wanted to be popular, but when my parents found out that I was smart it was always about impressing them instead of being me."

"Why do you do it?"

"I don't even know any more. More than anything, I want to be a writer. I want to write stories, movies, screenplays, songs, everything. But I feel like I'm stuck…stuck in a world that I didn't choose."

"We're not so different," Brittany commented, crossing her arms across her stomach.

"No, we're not."

"I was really embarrassed when I found out that I was being forced into tutoring, but I don't feel so icky about it anymore," Brittany played with the hem of her shirt.

"Really?" Santana couldn't help but feel relieved that Brittany was cool being around her. It will make the whole tutoring business a lot easier.

"Yeah, I mean, you're really cool," Brittany began to spin a ring on one of her fingers.

"Ladies, I'm sorry, but the library is closing, you'll have to leave," the librarian said from across the room.

Santana and Brittany both looked up at the clock. School has been over for a half hour. How had the time passed by so quickly? And why was the library closing so soon?

"I'm sorry, but the library won't be open for normal hours until next week," the librarian added like she could read their minds.

Santana was the first to stand up, "I guess we should get going then."

Brittany mimicked Santana's actions and got to her feet, gathering her things to leave. "I can't believe we didn't hear the bell."

"We're both just too interesting," Santana joked with a wink.

"I think we're a good amount of interesting, not too much. Plus can anyone really be too interesting?" Brittany clearly missed the sarcasm.

"You're right," Santana decided to answer her rather than dismiss her.

"Shoot," Brittany said as she looked down at her phone.

"What is it?" Santana wondered concerned.

"Dave was my ride home. He texted me like a gazillion times. He left," Brittany looked up at Santana helplessly.

"I'll give you a ride home," Santana offered.

"Are you sure? I mean, you don't have to if you don't want to."

"I want to," Santana said as the two walked toward the student parking lot

"Thanks San," Brittany hated to just ask people for a favor, especially people that she just met, but she really did need a ride.

"It's really not a problem. I mean, we're friends, right?" Santana tried to lighten the mood.

"OF COURSE!" Brittany yelled thinking that Santana was unsure about their friendship.

"Cool. Well, I have a strict, never leave a man behind policy, so that means you will always have a ride with me," Santana smirked at how loud Brittany had been just moments ago.

Brittany only lived a neighborhood away from Santana. Giving her a ride was really not a big deal. Santana actually couldn't believe that David would just leave Brittany like that. _What if she was just stranded at the school? I'll go all Lima Heights on his ass if he does this again. Jerk. _

Brittany thanked Santana for the hundredth time as she got out of Santana's car and strutted up to her home. Santana began to think about everything that happened today. It had been an eventless day until she sat down with a girl who she had thought was superficial and ditzy, but she turned out to be anything but those things. Who would have guessed that Brittany was such an amazing person underneath it all?

When Brittany was inside her house she couldn't help but think about everything that happened with Santana. She had no idea that someone so smart could be so genuine and nice. Everyone she's ever encountered who has been smart has also been mean. She couldn't wait to be tutored by Santana, especially if it meant that she had the chance to talk to her every day.

* * *

**Authors Note: **

****So I know that I'm taking characters out of context and they aren't behaving 100% like themselves. Mostly I'm just attempting to focus on the relationship between Santana and Brittany if they were in this situation. Also, I'll post songs with every chapter that I feel go with the mood of the chapter. This is about Glee after all =)

"Iris" - Goo Goo Dolls


	3. Friendly Warefare

Day 2. The second day of school is always better than the first day back. There are no more awkward hellos and there are no more lectures about how amazing the year is going to be. The second day of school is the real first day of school. It's the first day you learn anything. It's the first day that you and your friends hang out on normal terms. It's the first day that you feel like your back at school. It's also, the first day you don't smell that school smell because it only really takes a day to get used to.

Brittany practically bounced into school the next morning. Brittany is a morning person. No coffee, no energy shots, just a plain old bundle of pure energy. However, the good feeling that she had left over from yesterday was quickly erased by Sugar's high pitched bickering, "Hey, what's up my bitch? Why'd you bail yesterday? We were supposed to hit the mall and hit it hard, but you were a total no show."

Sugar is one of those people who tries _way_ too hard to be cool. "I had tutoring. I ended up staying late."

"But we didn't learn anything yesterday…" Sugar is clearly confused.

"Imagine how late I'll stay once we do get work," Brittany pretended to look worried.

David walked up and slipped his arms around Brittany. He smelt like that nasty smelling Axe cologne. Brittany almost gagged at the amount he had on. "Hey babe," Dave greeted before releasing his grasp on Brittany. "You didn't return any of my texts yesterday. What up?"

"I had to stay late for tutoring. I can't believe you left me…loser," Brittany shot Dave a look.

Before Brittany could really give Dave a piece of her mind, she saw Santana approaching with one of her friends.

Santana and Brittany locked eyes, "Hey Santana," Brittany said with a light wave.

"Hey Brittany," Santana replied.

While their exchange was brief, both Santana's and Brittany's group of friends noticed. Brittany and Santana continued about their day not realizing that they were under the careful scrutiny of their friends who were just waiting for a moment to judge them.

Sugar was the first to break the silence in Brittany's group of 'friends', "What was that all about? You're talking to geeks now? Is this a charitable thing?"

"What?" Brittany was clearly confused.

"Okay, I know that you're a dumb blonde, but seriously? I'm asking you why you talked to Santana Lopez; the queen of the geeks?" Sugar added for clarification.

Brittany looked down, hurt by her friends words. Nothing hurt Brittany more than when someone called her dumb or stupid. Brittany knew that she didn't understand things, but it still hurt when other people said it out loud.

"One, she's my tutor, and two, she's my friend," Brittany said pointedly. Brittany believed Sugar to be her best friend, but she still could give a crap less what Sugar thought most of the times. Often Brittany wondered why she even bothered.

Sugar stood in a state of shock, "Oh my God, that's like total social suicide. You cannot just talk to geekzilla and pretend like it's okay."

"It _is _okay. She's my friend and I can talk to her whenever I want," Brittany defended.

"You're so delusional," Sugar commented, trying to knock some sense into Brittany.

"No, I'm perfectly lusional; I know exactly what I'm doing and who my friends are!" Brittany and Sugar were making a scene at this point. People were beginning to think that this was the start of what would turn out to be an all-out fist fight.

Puck, a football meat head who wasn't nearly as mean as David and Azimio, ran up to Sugar and Brittany to be a voice of reason, "Hey, I think that we all have to get to class, what do you two think?"

"Yeah, this conversation is over anyway," Sugar's words spewed from her mouth like venom.

"Jerk face," Brittany mumbled to herself as she walked toward her class.

* * *

Quinn was genuinely worried about Santana. She could see that there was some sort of growing "friendship" between Brittany and Santana, but she knew that it could all be just an evil popular girl plot to knock Santana down a peg or two.

"Hey, Santana, can we talk about something?" Quinn wondered, pulling Santana aside.

"Anything, what's up," Santana was a little worried that something might be wrong with Quinn.

"I was just wondering when you became friends with Brittany Pierce."

"Oh, we just started being friends yesterday. Why?" Santana didn't understand why Quinn would care.

"Well, you see, Brittany is in the crowd of people who claim their HBIC status. I just think that you need to be careful, you know. Think about what you're doing before you become close friends with her. I just don't want to see you get hurt."

"Look, she's not like that okay, I know what I'm doing," Santana was a little offended that Quinn questioned her judgment.

"What are we doing?" Mike wondered as he butted into Santana and Quinn's conversation.

"Nothing," Santana didn't think that being friends with Brittany was a big deal.

"Yeah, except for the part where you became friends with Brittany Pierce," Quinn added so that she could get some backup from Mike on stopping Santana from continuing her friendship with Brittany.

"You're joking, right?" Mike thought that they were joshing him.

Santana simply shook her head no.

"Santana! You have got to be kidding me! You do realize that these people that you're now calling your friends are the same people who used to dump me in the trash every day? The same people who shoved me into the lockers, stole my lunch money, and book checked me every chance that they had? You're really considering being friends with them?" Mike was livid.

"I'm not friends with all of them Mike, just Brittany. She's not really like the rest of them. Also, it's none of your business who I'm friends with, Beijing!" Santana started to get a little red in the face. Her friends had never been this judgmental before.

"She's not your friend Santana. She's a manipulative bitch and you just can't see it," Mike continued his tirade.

"I don't think so. Plus, you don't even know her. How dare you think so lowly of her," Santana decided to go on the offense a little.

"Do you even know her? How long have you two been friends, a day?" Mike wasn't letting up anytime soon.

"I'm _so_ done with this conversation," Santana said as she walked away from her friends.

"Because you know I'm right," Mike yelled from across the hall.

"Bite me," Santana added as she continued to walk away.

* * *

When all of your friends tell you that what you're doing is wrong, you almost believe them…almost. Even though you want to believe them you don't because you know that you're right. It's hard, but every once in a while you have to make a decision for yourself, even if that decision leads you to stray away from the people that you love, the people who have been there for you for the past few years. It's a difficult journey, but in the end, you know that you're doing the right thing for you.

Both Brittany and Santana came to the library with a lot on their minds. They had heard so much negativity about their friendship that they both were on the brink of believing that they really should just not be friends.

"So, what do want to work on the most?" Santana started the session by trying to avoid the fact that everyone she knew looked down at her for wanting to hang out with Brittany.

"Um, let's do math. We're doing some new stuff with the quadrilateral formula, but I didn't even know what that formula was in the first place," Brittany began.

"Okay, well first of all, it's the quadratic formula. Like qua-drat- I have to learn this formula," Santana was slowly but surely learning how Brittany's brain worked. She was hoping that by putting things into Brittany-speak that she would be able to teach Brittany the material easier.

Brittany couldn't help but laugh at Santana's way of teaching her the word, "That's hilarious."

"Too school for cool right here," Santana laughed at herself. "Well the quadratic equation is something you use when you have a problem in this format: ax²+ bx + c = 0," Santana wrote the format down on a sheet of paper.

"Yeah, I think I've seen that before, but I've never seen it on any tests. So I never understood what it really is," Brittany looked extremely confused.

"Well, a, b, and c are just variables. So numbers are usually in those places. Like this: _x_2 + 3_x_ – 4. 1 is where the 'a' is, 3 is where the 'b' is, and 4 is where the 'c' is."

"I still don't get it."

"Okay, well the actual equation is ax²+ bx + c = 0 and the numbers that replace the letters are like a representation of the equation. Like if you were to draw a picture of me. You would draw in certain features, but if someone else were to draw a picture of me it might be different. So the equation is always the same, like I am always the same, but the numbers that fill in the spot of the variables are different depending on the problem, like if there were different artists painting my picture. Does that make sense?" Santana didn't even know if it made sense in her own head, let alone it making sense to Brittany.

"Yeah, it does actually," a smile grew across Brittany's face like.

Santana continued to explain the quadratic equation to Brittany. It's interesting how easy it was for Santana to translate these topics in such a way that Brittany understood them. Santana managed to get Brittany to understand the equation and how it works using an assortment of colors and pictures and lots of Brittany-speak. But when it came time to explain the quadratic formula, Santana wasn't certain what to do.

"So this is going to be the hard part," Santana warned Brittany. Brittany responded with a groan. Santana couldn't help but smile as she wrote down the quadratic formula on a sheet of paper. Brittany stared at the formula wide eyed. She knew that there was no possible way that she was going to understand this. She placed her head in her hands as she tried to figure out what the formula was doing.

"So this formula is solving for x. Remember when we talked about the graphs?" Santana tried to help Brittany remember.

"Yeah, x was the only thing that wasn't colored because it's the thing that we don't know. It's the thing that we're trying to find."

"Exactly! So, all this formula does is it helps us to find x."

"But the rest of it looks way too complicated," Brittany groaned again.

"Trust me it's not. All you have to do is put the numbers where the variables are in the formula," Santana said as she color coded the formula to the equation that they had color coded earlier.

"So you just plug in those numbers? That's it?" Brittany wondered.

"Yeah, that's it. Then you just use your calculator to solve for x. Remember that you'll have two answers."

"But how am I supposed to memorize this monster?" Brittany was clearly worried.

"Do you know the song Frère Jacques?" Santana thought back to when she first learned the formula. Their teacher had taught it to them in song.

"Yeah, but only the English version, is that okay?"

"Absolutely. I'm going to sing part of the equation and you just repeat after me. It's in the form of the song."

Then in the style of Frère Jacques, Santana sang, "Negative b."

"Negative b," Brittany mimicked Santana.

"Plus or minus square root."

"Plus or minus square root."

"B squared minus four a, c."

"B squared minus four a, c."

"All over two a."

"All over two a."

"And that is how you memorize the quadratic formula," Santana laughed. Brittany couldn't help but laugh with her. The way that they were going over this is ridiculous, but it was cool. Brittany and Santana sat in the library singing the quadratic formula for another five minutes or so, laughing each time they finished the song.

"Can I tell you something?" Santana wondered when the hour was almost up.

"Sure," Brittany didn't know what Santana could possibly want to talk about.

"You're not like those other popular kids you hang around. Some of my friends were trying to convince me not to hang out with you today, but just know that no matter what my friends think, I'm still your friend."

Brittany laughed, not because of Santana's confession, but because the exact same thing happened to her today. "My friends tried to tell me the same thing, Sugar and I almost got into a cat fight!"

Santana started to laugh with Brittany. Despite the fact that high school separates people into different cliques, people aren't so different. The geek crowd isn't so different from the popular crowd when you really look at it.

"It's interesting, isn't it?" Brittany wondered.

"What's interesting?" Santana didn't follow.

"That we both have the same problem. We both can't be ourselves around the people that we call our friends. That the only time that I really feel like I'm myself is when I'm with you. It's interesting."

"I feel the same way, like even though we have never really hung out before, it seems like we're already best friends," Santana hoped that Brittany felt the same way and that she wasn't just making a fool of herself.

"I like that, best friends," Brittany smiled at the thought. "Since we're best friends, can I tell you something?"

"Anything."

"I've never understood math. Ever. I have never once really understood what was going on, but I feel like I actually learned something today. You're a great teacher."

"I told you yesterday that you were going to do great, you didn't believe me, remember?" Santana nudged Brittany's arm playfully.

"Yeah. Can I take all of this home? All of the things that we color coordinated and what not," Brittany asked.

"Of course, it's all yours. Maybe you should take more notes and color them and draw pictures of what you think the teacher is talking about and write down any questions that you have. I mean, the whole color coding thing seemed to help, so maybe if you do that, you'll remember better," Santana suggested.

"I'll try that," Brittany was just happy that she finally understood something that she was taught. "The only thing that has ever come easy for me is dancing. Maybe it's because I put movements to the words. Maybe that's just how I learn. I have to put something with the material to understand it. Like colors or music."

"Yeah, maybe," Santana was only beginning to understand how Brittany learned, but if this was true, then it's possible that Brittany just needs to connect the material with something to learn. It's possible.

"You know what? I actually have a dance lesson today after school. You could stop by if you want. I mean, I know that that's a little weird to ask, but it would be kind of cool if you could see something that I'm good at. Plus, you're my best friend now. It's about time that we do some best friend things," Brittany began to ramble.

"I'll come. It should be fun," Santana accepted the invitation.

"Cool," Brittany exhaled a deep breath in relief. Brittany had never invited any of her other friends to a dance class before. She had never even told another soul that she was in dance. It's interesting how two people can connect so quickly even when they seem to be worlds apart in the high school social hierarchy.

The final bell of the day rang and the two girls stood up to leave.

"Oh, before I forget," Santana said as she grabbed a piece of paper out of her folder and handed it to Brittany. "This is all of my contact information: my phone number, email, Facebook, and Skype. If you ever need to get ahold of me for whatever reason."

"Yeah, I'll text you my number and I'll add you on the sites," Brittany said as she took the paper and placed it into her notebook.

"Thanks for being so patient with me, I know that I can be a handful," Brittany added as she slung her backpack over her shoulder.

"You're really not. I actually prefer tutoring you than any of the other kids," Santana shrugged.

Brittany pulled eyebrows together questioningly, "Why?"

"Because you're amazingly fun to be around."

Brittany just smiled. "Well, we should get going. My class starts at 4:00. It's over by that funny looking building with the weird top that looks like that spaceship where I got probed."

"I know which one you're talking about."

"Yeah, the dance place is right there. You can't miss it. It says 'DANCE' in big, gigantic letters on the front," Brittany used her arms over dramatically to express how huge the letters were.

"Okay, I'll be sure to be there," Santana laughed at Brittany's exaggerated expression.

* * *

**Author's Note: **

"Underneath It All" - No Doubt


	4. We're All Just Dancers

Santana had only been home for a little while before she jetted off toward Brittany's dance studio. She couldn't wait to see Brittany dance. She knew that Brittany believed that dance was the only real thing that she had going for her. Santana believed that Brittany has much more potential than people give her credit for.

Santana passed the funny looking building with the weird top and saw the dance studio with the awkwardly large letters spelling "DANCE" across the front. She pulled into one of the parking spots and walked inside. A bunch of people were inside dressed and ready to go. Santana looked around and spotted Brittany.

Brittany spotted Santana at the same time and ran over to her. "Hey! Thanks for coming," Brittany hugged Santana.

"Yeah, of course," Santana said as the two released from their hug.

"People, people, please people. Let's get this on party started. We're going to start with Bust Your Windows," someone yelled. Santana simply assumed it was the person in charge. Santana quickly found a seat and watched as everyone got in position. A hip hop version of Bust Your Windows came on that Santana had never heard before, but she really liked it.

Everyone moved to the beat flawlessly…Well, at least Santana thought that everyone moved flawlessly. Then again, she wasn't really looking at the other dancers, just Brittany. Brittany moved to the beat like she was born to dance. Every move was precise, perfect, flowing. Santana wanted to give the other dancers a chance and watch them for a moment or two, but she couldn't seem to take her eyes off of Brittany. It was like she was mesmerized by Brittany's movements.

The song was over too soon. All Santana wanted was to watch Brittany dance forever, but that dang song stopped. All the dancers dispersed for a quick moment, grabbing drinks of water and wiping sweat off their bodies. Brittany waltzed over to Santana.

"So?" Brittany wondered as she took a swig of water.

Santana stood up and wrapped Brittany into a hug, "You were amazing!"

"So you liked it?"

"I loved it! You're an amazing dancer."

"Thanks, Santana. Well, if you liked that, you'll love this," Brittany stated as she set her water bottle down and walked back onto the dance floor with a sinister grin on her face.

She walked over to the man in charge and whispered something to him. The man looked over toward me and then nodded. "Okay, okay, people, we're going to do Tik Tok. From the top!" Mr. In-Charge yelled.

The music began and it was then that Santana realized that Brittany had the lead in the song. Brittany was the lead dancer and everyone else was just there for support. Every movement was thought out, executed faultlessly. It was really amazing. Actually, when Santana thought about it, Brittany kind of looks like Ke$ha, if she caked on all of that slutty makeup that Ke$ha wears. Brittany fell into the splits and slid back to her feet, fist pumping her hand into the air as she stood to her feet.

Every chance that Brittany got she shot a glance over toward Santana. She noticed that Santana was staring. Despite the fact that this might make most people uncomfortable or self-conscious, Brittany felt motivated. She wanted her friend to know that she wasn't just the stupid girl, there is more to her than that. Brittany concentrated on each move, she knew that she was hitting all of her cues, but she didn't really care about being perfect so much as she cared about what Santana thought. She just wanted her new friend to be impressed by something that she does.

Little did Brittany know, Santana was impressed, extremely impressed. Santana wished that she could move her body like that. Santana wished that she had the amount of talent that Brittany had. Santana had assumed that Brittany would be a good dancer, but what Santana hadn't expected was for Brittany to be an amazing, So You Think You Can Dance-winning-worthy dancer.

Brittany trotted back towards Santana again. Santana handed Brittany her bottle of water and patted the seat next to her. Santana wasn't sure how long in between songs that they usually took for a break, but she just wanted to sit and talk with Brittany.

"You're a superstar," Santana smiled as Brittany sat down.

"I'm okay," Brittany attempted to be modest. She knew that she was good, but she wasn't the best or anything.

"No, really, you're the best dancer I've ever seen."

"You're just saying that," Brittany blushed.

"I mean it."

"Hey, people, people, remember, today is a short rehearsal. We don't have time to dilly dally. Actually, I think we only have time for one more number. Sorry that we couldn't look at new choreography, but hey, that's life, get over it. Let's get this show on the road. I'm thinking we do I Gotta Feeling," the man running the show said.

Brittany patted Santana's leg and stood up like a soldier on a mission and ran out to the dance floor. Before the dance started, Brittany looked over towards Santana. The two locked eyes and Brittany missed the first beat. Santana couldn't help but smile at the mistake because she is the one who caused it.

It was just the same as the last two dances. Brittany was utterly perfect. The only difference is the choreography and the song. Santana couldn't help but wonder why Brittany hid the fact that she's an amazing dancer from everyone.

After the number was finished, Brittany grabbed all of her things. Before Brittany and Santana could talk at all, the man running the lesson shuffled them outside. Clearly he had to be somewhere in a hurry. Once they were outside, they sat down on the curb.

"Why don't you tell your friends about your dancing?" Santana had to know.

Brittany thought about it for a minute. "Dancing is what I love; it's the one thing that I understand. I guess I just wanted to have something all to myself. Dancing is something that I can get lost in, something that I don't have to worry about what everyone else thinks when I do it. Plus, you're my friend, I told you."

"I meant like your other friends," Santana knew that Brittany knew what she was talking about.

Brittany looked at her feet, "I don't want them to know. I don't want them to be in every aspect of my life. I just feel like I need something where I can be one hundred percent me. Dancing is like breathing. You don't have to think about it, you just do it."

"I understand. It's like that with me and music and writing. I don't share that with anyone. I mean, I share some music stuff with my band, but not the real stuff, not the stuff that I write from the heart. And I _never_ share my writing with anyone. I guess I'm afraid of what people might say. Everything that I do always has to be perfect and I write just to write. I don't care if it's perfect and I don't want someone to ruin how much I love writing, you know? It comes from somewhere deep within, from the soul, and I'm afraid to let people see that," Santana tried to relate.

"I feel the same way. Hey, thanks for being someone that I can let in. I've never had that with anyone before," Brittany leaned her head on Santana's shoulder.

"Yeah, maybe I'll play one of my songs for you," Santana suggested. "Because I want to let you in too."

"I'd like that," Brittany said as she starred off into nothingness.

"It's getting late, maybe we should head home," Santana suggested as she realized that it was really dark outside and not a soul roamed about the streets.

"Do we have to?" Brittany groaned.

"We really should," Santana started to stand up. Once on her feet, she offered her hand to Brittany who hoisted herself up.

"Well, I'll see you tomorrow and maybe you can help me understand history," Brittany laughed as she slipped into her car.

"Yeah, I'll see you later," Santana hopped into her fire engine red Volkswagen Beatle.

Santana slipped her key into the ignition and the car roared to life. As she pulled away from the small dance studio, she couldn't help but think of Brittany. Brittany was so good at dancing; she was exact and fluid. Brittany also really grasped the material that they covered in tutoring. Santana thought about how Brittany speaks and how she doesn't always say the words she needs, but talks around them, or sometimes says really outlandish things, or makes weird connections. She then thought about how Brittany always understood better when things were written out - and put to colors and diagrams - and not just said.

As Santana slid deeper in thought, she realized that it is quite possible that Brittany has a learning disability. She knows that Brittany is NOT stupid. Brittany works really hard, yet she still doesn't understand. Santana knows that Brittany is really just in tutoring so that Santana can keep an eye on her while she works. Her parents probably think that since Brittany is in the popular crowd that she just doesn't care enough to do her work. They couldn't be more wrong. Brittany wants nothing more than to be able to understand the material like everyone else, but she just can't.

For some unknown reason, Santana wants, no needs, to help Brittany. Santana knows that she can help Brittany by helping her with her school work, but she needs to make sure that's she's doing the right things. _Maybe if I do some research, I can figure out what this is, and what I can do to help her._ Santana doesn't understand her need to help Brittany, she just does, and she will do everything in her power to make sure that Brittany succeeds.

Santana pulled into her driveway and practically ran out of her car and into her house.

"Hey honey, do you want some dinner?" Santana's mother asked.

Santana gave a brief response whilst running up the stairs to her room, "No, I'll grab a snack or something later."

Santana continued running until she plopped herself into the seat behind her desk. She frantically typed out "Learning Disabilities" into Google. Despite the fact that Santana has a personal rule to never trust Wikipedia, she decided that it would help her narrow the list of disabilities down so she could do a more in depth search.

Santana searched the internet for hours, looking intently at each disability and the symptoms, trying to find something that made sense. Santana really needed for something to make sense. She needed for Brittany to have a reason for not understanding. Santana knows that Brittany is a good, hardworking student. _She doesn't deserve to just not understand, _Santana's thoughts plagued her.

Finally a particular disorder appeared in her research that seemed promising. The name of the disorder is Dysnomia. This learning disability is characterized by symptoms that consist of a difficulty in both verbal and written expression. As she read more into the learning disability, she realized that she had struck gold. People who have Dysnomia can't always recall or spell words correctly, they don't use common synonyms for words, they find it hard to understand concepts easy for others to understand, they have problems finishing tests in time, and they exchange simple words with words and phrases that don't always make sense (sometimes with nonsensical jargon). This defines everything that Brittany finds difficult about learning. When Brittany speaks, she can't always find the right words, simple words, that she should be able to find. She doesn't understand concepts that others understand the first time through the material. And she always uses nonsensical phrases to describe things.

For the first time in three hours, Santana believed that she had actually stumbled onto something. Santana had thought that she was just being hopeful that Brittany's inability to understand wasn't her own fault. Now she knows that it is quite possible that Brittany has a real, medical problem preventing her from learning like everyone else.

Immediately, Santana looked for ways to help people with the Dysnomia. There is not a whole lot known about the disorder, but after some research, Santana found that doing word association exercises and exercises that associate words with things easier to locate help the patient to remember or recall missing pieces of information.

Then it hit her. Santana had been using pictures and color codes to help Brittany remember concepts in class. Santana had been unknowingly helping Brittany in the way that she needed it without really knowing that Brittany need help in this way the most. Santana leaned back in her seat a little proud of herself. She decided that she had to continue to tutor Brittany like this if she wanted Brittany to succeed.

Then another thing hit her, Santana had been spending so much time worrying about Brittany that she hadn't done any of her homework. She panicked and started frantically ripping her homework out of her backpack.

Then another thing hit her, or rather she hit her head. Santana hit her head against the desk laughing when she realized that it was Friday and that she didn't have to get her work done until Sunday night. Plus, it's not like she has a lot of work. They hadn't even really learned a whole lot yet. They mostly just had a few pieces of "refresher" homework (so the teacher can know how much everyone forgot over the summer).

All she had was some math homework and a safety contract to get signed by her parents for biology. She started laughing at herself hysterically and decided that she needed a brain break. Santana got back on the internet and logged onto Facebook. She saw that she had a couple of notifications and a friend request. She clicked on the friend request; it was Brittany. Santana unconsciously smiled widely at the request and immediately clicked "Accept".

Santana then had a serious debate in her head, _Should I tell Brittany about the whole learning disability thing? _There were two serious arguments, one for, and one against. First, Santana thought that she should tell Brittany because then Brittany would know that her inability to understand isn't her fault. Then again, Brittany would definitely be offended if Santana told her that she thought that she had a learning disability. Brittany would think that Santana was calling her stupid. Plus Brittany wouldn't like the idea that she was a special needs student. So in the end, Santana decided to keep this discovery to herself; at least for now.

Then, exhausted from research and the day she'd had, Santana decided that it was time to give up on the day and say hello to a hopefully peaceful night. She slipped into some comfortable pajamas and slid into bed, pulling the covers tightly over her head, begging for sleep to come.

_Brittany came bouncing up to Santana. Santana had no idea where she was. She looked around and she noticed that they were…on the beach? They lived in the middle of Ohio; they couldn't be on a beach, at least not one that's attached to an ocean. Santana looked around confused for another moment before Brittany embraced her in a tight hug. _

_"What are we doing here?" Santana couldn't help but wonder. _

_"We live here silly," Brittany giggled into Santana's neck. _

_Santana felt a shiver go up her spine. "Where is here?" _

_"California," Brittany took a step back and looked Santana in the eyes. "Are you okay, baby?" _

_"Baby?" Santana whispered to herself. _

_"You look like you've just seen a… scary spook," Brittany finished her sentence in her usual Brittany way. _

_Santana smiled at the word replacement, "Why are we in California?" _

_"And they say that you're the smart one," Brittany rolled her eyes as she leaned up and kissed Santana on the lips. Santana tensed. Sensing her apprehension, Brittany pulled away. _

_"San, are you feeling alright? Did I do something wrong?" Brittany continued to make no sense to Santana. _

_"I just don't understand," Santana started before Brittany's lips found hers again. _

Santana shot up in her bed. Her breathing was labored, her body covered in sweat. _What the hell was that? _She thought to herself. Santana knew that she liked Brittany, but she liked Brittany as a friend, and not a kissing-type-of-friend. At least, she thought that she didn't like Brittany in that way. She doesn't like girls. _This is ridiculous, it was just a stupid dream,_ she reasoned.

Santana tried to get back to sleep, but she couldn't. Her mind kept wandering with thoughts about the totally wacky dream she just had. But she didn't really think about the wacky parts of the dream; like how they lived in California, that they seemed like a couple, or that they were on a beach. The only part of the dream that she really thought about were Brittany's lips and how good Brittany's lips felt on her own.

_I just need to stop thinking about it…Pretend that the dream never happened._ Santana forced her eyes shut and attempted to drift back to sleep. After an impossibly long amount of time, Santana managed to get to sleep.

* * *

Brittany has just arrived at her house from her dance studio. She practically skipped up the stairs to her front door. She looked down at her keys and in that moment she realized that she couldn't remember which silver key fit the key hole. She stared at her keys for a few minutes frustrated at herself because she couldn't even remember the most basic things.

Brittany couldn't understand herself. She was so happy just moments ago when she was with Santana. _Santana makes me feel so unbelievably spectacularis! Like a unicorn!_ She laughed at her own thoughts as she realized which key was the right one. She quickly slid the key in the lock and unlocked her door. _See, she even helps me remember which key is the right one when she isn't even here._

"Brittany, is that you?" Brittany's mom wondered as she appeared from the hallway.

"Yeah, it's me," Brittany replied as she took off her shoes. She couldn't wait to see Santana again. It was weird how close they had gotten in just a couple of days, but Brittany didn't care.

"Dinner's on the table," Brittany's mom said as she turned back down the hallway.

"Alright, I'll be right there, I just got to do something really quick," Brittany ran upstairs and opened her laptop. She opened the internet and logged onto her Facebook. She then found Santana Lopez and sent a friend request. She then hopped back down the stairs to eat dinner.

"So how's school going?" Brittany's father wondered. Brittany is an only child, so she knew that the question was directed at her.

"It's better," Brittany smiled as she chewed on some corn.

"How's your tutor?" Brittany's mom pried.

Brittany looked up and smiled at her mother. "Oh no, it's not some cute boy is it?" Brittany's father wondered worried.

"No, it's not a cute boy. _Her_ name is Santana. She's really awesome and I'm totally learning more stuff when she teaches me," Brittany replied as she took a sip of water.

"I've never heard of her before," Brittany's mom frowned.

"She's like the smartest girl in our class. We just never really hung out before she started tutoring me. But now, we're like best friends. We understand each other," Brittany informed her parents.

"Best friends?" Brittany's dad wondered.

Brittany played with the food on her plate, chasing some peas around with her fork, "Yeah, she's cool. I mean, she is really nice to me. Most people aren't. I mean, they know that I'm stupid and they treat me like I'm stupid. Santana, she treats me differently. I don't know how to explain it. She's just really cool. She actually came to my dance class today."

"Really? You never invite people to your dance classes, not even us," Brittany's mom replied almost offended.

"I told you, we're totally best friends now."

"Well, I'm glad," Brittany's dad broke the silence. "This Santana girl sounds like she's a good influence on you."

Brittany rolled her eyes, "She didn't give me the flu, I'm not sick."

Mr. and Mrs. Pierce exchanged a knowing look.

After dinner, Brittany waltzed up to her room where she immediately got ready for bed. She was really tired. She was mentally and physically exhausted from school and dance class. She jumped into her bed and pulled the covers up. Sleep came easily.

_"You're so stupid!" Sugar yelled so loud that the words rang in Brittany's ears. _

_"Yeah, you're an idiot!" David joined in. Brittany felt tears well in her eyes. She closed her eyes tightly, trying to stop the tears. _

_"How are you still passing school?" a random girl asked in passing. _

_"How can you be so dumb?" Azimio asked. _

_"Yeah, no one is as dumb as you," Sugar chimed in. _

_Tears began to flow freely from Brittany's eyes. She covered her ears with her hands and fell to her knees, a knowing pain shooting through her entire body. Then, Brittany felt a hand on her shoulder. _

_"You're not stupid Brittany, they're stupid. You're amazing," Brittany could hear Santana's voice. She opened her eyes. When she looked up, she was staring deep into Santana's beautiful brown eyes. _

_"They all know that I'm stupid, I know that I'm stupid, you should know too! You're the smartest girl in school, how do you not know that!" Brittany couldn't believe that she was screaming at Santana, but she was so frustrated. _

_Santana helped Brittany to her feet. She then wrapped her into a tight hug. "You are not stupid, baby." _

_"What did you just call me?" Brittany wondered through teary eyes. _

_Santana took Brittany's face in her hands and pulled her into a kiss. Brittany couldn't believe what was happening, but didn't fight it. "You are the smartest, bravest, and most amazing person that I've ever met," Santana practically whispered as she pulled out of the kiss. _

_Brittany looked around and noticed that Sugar and the others all disappeared, "Where did everyone go?" _

_"Does it matter?" Santana wondered through sincere eyes. _

_"No," Brittany replied as Santana leaned in for another kiss. _

Brittany woke up with a start. _That was weird,_ she thought. Brittany knew that she wasn't gay. Then again, Brittany knew that she didn't really know much, so what if this was just another thing that she didn't know? She got out of bed and walked to her bathroom. She threw some water on her face as she tried to figure out what that dream was about. She teared up as she remembered all of the people calling her stupid, but the tears were wiped away by the second part of the dream. Brittany focused hard on Santana and how safe Santana made her feel, but more than that, she thought about the kiss. The kiss was good, not weird, but it felt wrong, but at the same time, it felt so right. It was just another thing that Brittany couldn't put into words.

Instead of dwelling on the fact that the dream confused her to no end, Brittany decided that it was probably just best to try to get back to sleep. On her way back to bed, Brittany couldn't help herself. She walked over to her computer and pulled up Facebook. She had a single notification "Santana Lopez has accepted your friend request". A smile grew across Brittany's face. She then slipped into her bed, content. Sleep came easy once again.

* * *

**Authors Note: **

****"Dreams" by The Cranberries


	5. Here's Your Letter

It's been a few weeks since Brittany took Santana to her dance class and caused a frenzy of weird dreams to overwhelm the thoughts of both girls. Despite their dreams, both girls have managed to not make their friendship awkward. They just hung out every day during tutoring and never brought up the clear tension between them, just below the surface.

Again, seventh hour rolls by and it's time for tutoring. Santana has been thoroughly impressed by the amount of progress that Brittany has been making. She can't help but think that this is the product of her teaching methods which she has tailored to the learning disability that she believes Brittany has. Despite the clear progress, Santana has neglected to tell Brittany about how she believes that she might have a learning disability because Santana doesn't want to hurt her feelings. Santana knows that intelligence is a very sensitive topic for Brittany and she doesn't want to hurt her friend.

It was clear that the beginning of the school year had come and gone. As Santana walked into the library she could clearly see the clutter, the trash, and the posters already falling off the walls. She sighed, _You would think that this school would at least find a way to make it look like we should want to be here. _

Santana sat at the usual table and waited for Brittany to arrive. Santana knew that there was some unspoken awkwardness between the two. She knew that there was something that Brittany wasn't telling her. Then again, there was something that she wasn't telling Brittany. It was all very confusing.

"Santana!" Brittany practically yelled as she skipped toward the table. Brittany was _way_ too excited. What had gotten into her?

"Hey Brittany," Santana greeted as she stood up to hug her friend. "What's gotten into you today? You're way too chipper. It's only Thursday, you're not allowed to be happy until Friday."

Brittany laughed at Santana's clear sarcasm. Santana's sarcasm is the only sarcasm that Brittany understood, for some reason unknown to the both of them. "This is why I'm so happy," Brittany handed Santana a piece of paper from her bag.

Santana took a minute to examine the paper. It was a midterm report card that was given to all of the students in homeroom that day. As she read down the sheet, Santana saw the following:

Biology - B

Math Core II- A

World Literature- C

History of the Americas- B-

Lunch- N/A

Spanish- A-

Student Government- A

"Oh my God, this is great!" Santana practically choked the air out of Brittany with a tight, bear hug.

"I know, I can't even believe it. I never got an A in Spanish or Math before. I mean, I've never really got A's before period, but this…" Brittany sighed contently, "This is amazing."

"Damn straight! I'm so proud of you!" Santana was ecstatic. She couldn't believe how far Brittany had come in just a few weeks.

"Yeah, it would be a super duper awesome…um check-in… status thingy if I could figure out Lit class," Brittany sighed as she sat in her seat.

"Well, we can work on lit if you want, what don't you understand?" Santana wondered.

"Well it's not that I don't understand the material, it's that I understand it the wrong way. At least that's what Mr. Johnson says. He says that I don't get the themes."

"That's okay, we can work on that. I can help you identify themes when you're taking notes," Santana said as she pulled out Othello by Shakespeare.

"Lit isn't the only thing that I'm having a problem with though," Brittany hung her head and played with her fingers.

"Are you okay?" Santana wondered as she tried to read Brittany's expression.

"It's just that sometimes I have a hard time just remembering normal things. Not just class things. I mean, you've helped me to understand and remember class things, but sometimes I forget non-class things, you know?" Brittany explained.

"You mean like you forget things that just happen, outside of class?" Santana wondered.

"Yeah, exactly. It's like, sometimes I really want to remember something that you said, but it's gone, or I want to remember things that happened on certain days, funny things, sad things, all sorts of things, but the things aren't there. It's like my brain is an office of little Brittany's all running around looking for a bunch of files that were accidentally deleted by an evil duck."

Santana giggled as she imagined the scene; a bunch of little Brittany's in Brittany's head all running around looking for information. "Well, how about you keep a journal? You could write down everything that you want to remember, or things that seem important at the time so that you can have a written record of everything. You'll never have to worry about forgetting again, because the memories will always be there; just make sure to write down everything in detail."

"I've never kept a journal before. I don't really know how," Brittany muttered a little embarrassed.

"Well, it's kind of like writing letters to yourself. Since you'll be writing to remember, you'll be writing kind of like taking notes on your own life. But make sure that what you write is for yourself. In a journal, no one else sees what you write but yourself. So you get to put down everything that you're feeling and it's okay," Santana tried to explain how to keep a journal. Santana had never really been successful in keeping a journal herself, but she knew the mechanics.

"I like that. It'll be like keeping notes on my life. These notes, how you taught me to take them, have been helping me with everything else, so they should be able to help with normal life stuff too. Yeah, that's a great idea," Brittany smiled wide as took out her things for the tutoring session.

"Alright, well we should take a look at Othello. We could read a little and you can tell me what you're thinking and we'll go from there, okay?" Santana said as she opened the play.

"Hey, Santana?" Brittany stopped the progression of the session.

"Yeah?" Santana wondered as she looked up.

"Can I write letters to you too? I mean, it'll help me remember things and you're my best friend, so…" Brittany began to ramble.

"Of course you can write letters to me. It's a great idea, I can write letters back to you and then you'll have like a second journal. It'll be fun," Santana replied.

"Cool," Brittany simply replied. Little did Santana know the real reason for Brittany suggesting the friendship letter writing. Santana had told Brittany that she can talk about things that no one else will see in the letters. The dream that Brittany had weeks ago still haunted her. She feels like sometimes she likes Santana more than just a best friend and she wants to tell Santana that, but Brittany doesn't feel like she can say it out loud. So, writing it makes sense. If she writes it, then it's just between them and no one else will see or call her stupid or anything.

"So, I'll read first and we can switch off," Santana suggested as she began reading the beginning of the first act. Brittany smiled, hiding her glee behind her book as Santana recited the play aloud.

* * *

Brittany had just gotten home from school. Despite the smell of Macaroni and Cheese beckoning her downstairs, Brittany decided that she had to write her letter to Santana first. _I have to let her know how I feel._

Brittany ran straight to her room and shut the door; hoping to shut out the smell of the extremely yummy smelling food too. She quickly grabbed a sheet of paper out of her backpack and began writing.

**_Santana, _**

**_ So, I've sorta been meaning to tell you something for a long time. You know that I'm not really good with word so I'm just gonna try my best to get it all out there. Here it goes. The friendship that we have really means a lot to me. I've never met anyone as nice and patient as you. I can share everything with you and you are always interested and you never tell me that I'm stupid and you're always there. You understand me more than anyone even my parentals. You are the most beautiful amazing and smart bestie that anyone could ever ask for. I had this dream the night after you came to my dance practice. It made me think that I kinda like you as more than a bestie. I know that you probably don't feel the same way but you said that in letters you can say things that you're too afraid to say out loud. I really like you and I just wanted to tell you that. Thank you for being the best thing that ever happened to me. _**

**_3 Brittany =)_**

Brittany scanned the letter a few times and decided that she liked it. She wanted to make sure that Santana knew how she felt, but at the same time, she didn't want to freak Santana out. She needed to let Santana know gently. The absolute last thing that Brittany wanted was for her stupid feelings to mess up her friendship with Santana. _Stupid brain, stupid feelings, really everything about me is stupid. But Santana likes even the stupid parts of me, so maybe she'll like my stupid feelings too, _Brittany thought before she skipped downstairs to eat some super yummy Mac 'N' Cheese.

* * *

"Hey, I feel like we haven't hung out in forever," Quinn says as she jumps on Santana's couch.

"Yeah, you know me, I've just been really focused on school," Santana defended as she set a bowl of popcorn on the coffee table.

"Is that code for, I've been really busy with my new best friend Brittany?" Quinn wondered taking a handful of popcorn.

Santana was taken aback, "No, it's not code for anything. I've just been really busy. Plus, we see each other all the time at school."

"You know that it's not the same. We're best friends, we're supposed to hang out and talk about things and you've just been so distant lately," Quinn commented.

"I'm sorry I haven't really been a good friend, huh?" Santana winced as she thought about how little time she's spent with her best friend lately.

"Like I said, distant."

"I'll try to be less distant-y," Santana rounded toward the movie shelf and began running her eyes over the titles.

"You have been spending way too much time with that airhead," Quinn commented on the way Santana spoke.

Santana's eyebrows furrowed, "She's not an airhead."

"Total airhead," Quinn laughed it off, not thinking that it was a big deal.

Santana turned around, officially angry, "Look, Quinn, Brittany is not an airhead. She's smart okay? And she's my friend, so don't talk about her like that, go it?"

"What is it with this whole 'Brittany and I are friends' thing anyway? You two hadn't said two words to each other before this year!" Quinn started to get angry at Santana for protecting Brittany.

"We're friends, deal with it!" Santana's face turned an angry color of red.

"Look, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to sound so mean. It's just that I'm worried about you. You're really invested in this friendship and I don't know that Brittany feels the same way. I'm worried about you," Quinn repeated some familiar words from a few weeks ago.

"We've gone over this already," Santana became a little less flustered.

"I'm your best friend, it's my job to look out for you," Quinn defended.

Santana pondered that for a second, "Yeah, true that…You're right, you have a right to be worried, but I can assure you that you don't have a reason to be worried. Just give Brittany a chance, she's not a bad person, I swear."

"Fine, but if you end up on the butt end of some bad joke, I have every right to tell you 'I told you so,' deal?" Quinn held out her hand.

Santana shook her hand, "Deal. Now, what movie are we going to watch?"

"Oh, I was thinking Easy A," Quinn said a little too excited.

"Easy A it is," Santana said pulling out the DVD.

* * *

The next day at school, Brittany had a hard time concealing her nerves. The thought had crossed her mind a couple of times to just tear up the letter that she was going to give to Santana and pretend like she never wrote it. However, she knew that she had to follow through with giving the note to Santana. She had to know.

"What's up with you?" Sugar wondered as they stood in the middle of the hall.

"Oh, nothing," Brittany lied.

"Lying bitch, what's up?" Sugar was pretending to be concerned.

"You curse like a sailor, did you know that?" Puck commented. Puck is the quietest and least cruel of the popular kids. He's actually pretty nice. He's only in the popular crowd because he is an all-star athlete.

"Whatever Puck. So, what's up with you ditzy?" Sugar pointed the question at Brittany.

Brittany hated when Sugar outwardly called her stupid. She just ignored her and said, "I'm going to go, I'll see you guys in class."

Brittany walked down the hall and towards Santana's locker. "See you later, hot stuff," David said, but Brittany was already out of hearing range.

"What the hell?" Sugar wondered to the rest of the group.

Brittany ignored her friends and her boyfriend because, honestly, she could care less about them right now. The only real person in Brittany's life that meant anything to her is Santana. She had to give her this letter before she tore it up. Santana was putting a book into her locker when she spotted Brittany.

"Hey, Britt, what's up?" Santana wondered as she pulled her biology text book out of her locker and placed it in her bag.

"We said that we were going to write letters to each other, so here," Brittany practically shoved the letter in Santana's hands and then left without saying another word. Of course Santana thought that this was weird, but decided not to run after her and find out what was wrong.

Santana unfolded the letter and read it over. She couldn't believe it. Brittany felt the same way as her. _Holy crap._ Santana leaned up against her locker and exhaled a content sigh. The words in the letter cut deep. She knew exactly how Brittany felt because she felt the exact same way. It was weird that they both had a feeling-confusing dream the night after Brittany's dance class, but Santana shrugged it off. She figured that she could tell Brittany about it later in the letter that she's going to write back.

* * *

The day had dragged on slower than usual. Santana thought that it was probably because she was so anxious to write a letter back to Brittany. The second that the bell rang signaling the beginning of her lunch hour, Santana ran up to the library for some privacy so she could write back to Brittany.

**_Brittany, _**

**_ I love our friendship too. It really means a lot to me that you're in my life. I never thought that I could be in such honest and good friendship with someone. You are an amazing listener and you are NOT stupid. Stop saying that you're stupid, because you're not. You are perfect just the way you are. You are amazingly beautiful, you're hilarious, and you are crazy talented. You are the best bestie that anyone could ever ask for. I will always be here for you, no matter what. _**

**_ Funny story, I had a dream the night after your dance practice too. It had the same effect on me. I couldn't help but think that our friendship was more than a friendship. I like you like a best friend, but I like you as something else too. I can't explain it, but I know that I like you as more than a bestie. I've never felt this way about a girl before and it kind of scares me, but I know that we'll figure it out because I know that with you it's really easy to figure things out. I'm really glad that you feel the same way that I do. And I'm really glad that we're writing these letters because I would be way too afraid to say all of this out loud. Also, we need to work on your comma usage because it's non-existent. _**

**_ ~Santana 3 _**

Santana was content with the letter and decided that she was going to give it to Brittany instead of just telling Brittany how she feels. This is better. It's safer. They can be themselves in writing. Both Brittany and Santana have expressed how they can't always be themselves when they're around others, but in these letters it's just the two of them and they can be themselves without any worries.

* * *

Brittany and Santana exchanged letters for days. It was amazing how they could be so open and honest with each other. They never had this with anyone else. They just let go of all their fears and let down all of their walls and let all of their thoughts and feelings out fly out into the open.

Over the past couple of days the two had decided that they mutually liked each other. They flirted openly in the notes, but they still weren't certain about coming out with everyone else. Plus, Brittany didn't want to hurt David by breaking up with him so suddenly, she had to ease into a breakup. Brittany knew that it was a bad excuse, but Santana understood. They decided that they couldn't really be together until Brittany sorted things out with David, which she fully intended to do… soon.

At the end of their tutoring session that day, Brittany gives Santana her letter and says, "So, my parents want to meet you."

Santana's eyes widen thinking that Brittany told her parents about her feelings for Santana. Santana chokes out, "Um, why?" Santana didn't want to accuse Brittany of anything before she knew all the facts.

"They just want to meet the amazing tutor that has been helping my grades soar to new heights," Brittany smiled at the thought that she was getting good grades.

"Oh, okay," Santana sighed with relief.

"So, can you come over for dinner tonight? We're having pasta!" Brittany said way to excited about the food situation.

"Absolutely, let me just text my mom that I'll be at your place," Santana pulled out her phone.

"You're mom texts? My mom is still in the Stone Age," Brittany commented as Santana texted her mom.

"Yeah, my mom's pretty tech savvy," Santana chuckled as she slipped her phone back into her pocket.

Then, the bell rang for the end of the school day. "Well, I'll see you around five?" Brittany suggested.

"Yeah, I'll see you then," Santana grabbed all of her things and shoved them in her backpack.

Santana and Brittany exchanged a quick goodbye hug and went on their separate ways. Santana didn't think much of the dinner meeting when Brittany had invited her, but now Santana's stomach was full of butterflies. _Why am I so nervous? Get ahold of yourself Lopez!_ Santana mentally scolded herself as she walked down to the parking lot.

Once in her car, Santana realized that her breathing resembled hyperventilating and she was gripping the steering wheel so tight that her knuckles were a freakish type of white. She turned on her radio and blasted her air conditioner to help calm her down. She didn't understand why she was acting this way. She liked Brittany, Brittany knew that she liked her; they were keeping it safe in the closet for now. There wasn't going to be any awkward coming out conversations, it was just a friendly dinner. Santana had to get ahold of herself.

* * *

_Alright, this is the big moment Lopez, just knock on the damn door. _Santana stood outside the Pierce residence like a statue. She tried to will her hand to knock on the door, but she just couldn't bring herself to do it. _Chicken shit,_ she thought to herself.

Then, as if she sensed that Santana was there, Brittany opened the door. _Thank God,_ Santana thought relieved.

"Hey, why are you just standing there?" Brittany laughed as she pulled Santana inside.

"I honestly have no idea," Santana shrugged as she took off her shoes.

"For a smart kid, you're pretty weird sometimes," Brittany smiled as she took Santana's hand in her own and led her to the dining room.

Santana took in the intoxicating aroma of spaghetti sauce and garlic bread. Then she saw Brittany's parents. Mr. Pierce has light brown hair and amazing blue eyes just like Brittany's. Mrs. Pierce has platinum blonde hair and the same blue eyes as her husband and Brittany.

"Mom, Dad, this is Santana, my tutor," Brittany introduced as we entered the room.

"So this is the wonderful tutor turned best friend that we hear so much about," Mrs. Pierce greeted with a hug. Friendliness apparently runs in the family.

"It's nice to meet you," Mr. Pierce said as he began helping himself to the food. He had apparently been waiting to dig into the food because he practically attacked it once Santana arrived.

"It's nice to meet you too," Santana couldn't help but smirk at how Mr. Pierce went after the food, like it was going to get up and run away if he didn't get to it now.

"Help yourself, dear," Mrs. Pierce threw Santana a smile and handed her a plate.

"Thanks, it smells great," Santana commented as she scooped some spaghetti onto her plate.

Once everyone had gotten their food and began eating, Mrs. Pierce broke the silence, "So, Brittany tells us that you're the smartest girl in school."

"Oh, gosh, I wouldn't say that," Santana looked down at her food trying to be modest. She was at the top of the class, but again, she didn't really think that she was super smart, she just worked really hard.

"Oh please. You need to give yourself some credit, Santana. She's at the top of our class, number one," Brittany decided that she wasn't going to let Santana get away with being modest tonight.

"That's wonderful dear, we are so glad that you're tutoring Brittany," Mrs. Pierce offered.

"So, how has the tutoring been going," Mr. Pierce wondered.

"Oh, I forgot to show you guys," Brittany said as she started to stand up. "May I be excused for a moment?"

Mr. Pierce nodded and repeated to Santana, "So, how is she doing?"

"Brittany's doing great. I mean, she is doing fantastic. She's improved in all of her classes and she understands all of the material," Santana began.

"Yeah, we figured that she did. We always knew she was doing poorly just because she didn't do her work. You're a really great role model for her," Mr. Pierce commented.

"No, she works really hard. She always has. We're doing some exercises with notes that are helping her remember and understand the material," Santana defended. Santana didn't like how Mr. Pierce just assumed Brittany didn't work hard.

"Oh, well, that's good," Mr. Pierce almost looked offended by Santana's tone and she wanted to say sorry, but she wasn't.

Brittany skipped back into the dining room and handed Mrs. Pierce her midterm report card. "Oh dear, Gordon, you have to see this," Mrs. Pierce was taken aback by the grades.

"Brittany, this is wonderful! Whatever you're doing, it's working," Mr. Pierce shot Santana a faint smile.

"It's all Brittany, she deserves full credit," Santana said as she took a bite of food.

"Thanks, but you're the one who helped me figure out how to understand school," Brittany nudged Santana's arm.

"We're so proud of you, Brittany," Mrs. Pierce left the dining room momentarily with the paper, but was back in seconds.

"Where'd you put it?" Brittany wondered what Mrs. Pierce had done with the midterm report.

"I put it on the fridge sweetie," Mrs. Pierce smiled.

Brittany's expression turned from happy to absolutely bubbly. She had a hard time containing herself.

After dinner was finished, Brittany invited Santana upstairs. They both left to Brittany's room to hang out without the watchful eyes of Brittany's parents. Once they were inside Brittany's room, Brittany flopped onto her bed and began to tear up. Santana sat herself down next to Brittany a little worried.

"What's wrong?" Santana wondered.

Brittany sat up, "Nothing's wrong, everything's right." Brittany wiped a tear away.

Santana scooted closer to Brittany and placed a hand on her thigh, "Then why are you crying?"

"My parents have never put anything of mine on the fridge before. I know it sounds crazy, but everyone else's parents did that when they got good grades. I never got good grades, so they never put anything up there," Brittany smiled at Santana.

Santana looked into Brittany's piercing blue eyes and felt so warm inside. It wasn't because Brittany was so close or because she was so beautiful, it was because Santana was so happy that Brittany was happy.

Neither of them had noticed how long they had just been staring into each other's eyes. Slowly, the two drifted towards each other, both unconsciously. Then it happened. They kissed.

Santana moved her hand from Brittany's thigh to her cheek, cupping it in her hand. Brittany wrapped an arm around Santana's waist and pulled her into the kiss. After a couple of seconds, they pulled away.

"That was…" Santana began.

"Magical," Brittany finished.

"Yeah, wow," Santana dropped her hand from Brittany's cheek.

"I couldn't have said it better myself," Brittany laughed at Santana's inability to form words.

"So what does this mean?" Santana wondered.

"I don't know," Brittany answered honestly. "But I think it means that we are both really into each other," Brittany winked.

Brittany went in for another kiss, but Santana pulled back, "Have you talked to David yet?"

"No, but I will, I promise. I'll talk to him tomorrow. I don't want to be with him, I want to be with you," Brittany was always so comfortable talking around Santana when they were alone, or in their letters to each other.

"I want to be with you too," Santana said. Brittany went in for a kiss again, but Santana stopped her again, "But I can't let you cheat on David. You have to tell him before we do this."

Brittany looked down not liking the rejection, "Alright, I understand."

"I don't like it either. There's nothing I want more than to kiss you right now," Santana licked her lips remembering how soft Brittany's lips felt against her own. Santana regretted how freaking noble she was being, but she wasn't really doing it for her sake. Santana was preventing another kiss from occurring for Brittany's sake. She knew that Brittany would regret it even if she didn't care in that moment. She knew that Brittany needed to settle things with David before they could give in to their clear desire for each other.

Despite this clear desire, they were both still very confused. Santana was fairly certain that she wasn't gay and having these feelings was turning her whole world upside down. She didn't really know what to think. She likes Brittany, but she's scared. Santana decided that she was going to tell Brittany all of this via letter because she was afraid to say it aloud.

* * *

**Author's Note:**

"Suddenly I See" by KT Tunstall


	6. Stupefy

After a confusing, yet surprisingly great night at the Pierce household, Santana was ready to wear her heart on her sleeve. She couldn't say what she wanted to out loud. She felt like a bit of a coward for that, but then again, she had a right to be afraid. The world isn't really accepting in nature. Once she was finished with her letter, she folded it up and placed it in her backpack.

"Breakfast is ready!" Santana's father shouted from the kitchen.

Santana could hear her parents arguing about how if her mom wanted to get Santana by yelling upstairs, she could have done it herself. Santana couldn't help but laugh lightly at her parents antics. It was just another typical morning in the Lopez's household.

Santana slung her bag over her shoulder and ran downstairs. She looked at the clock; she really needed to get to school soon. Santana grabbed a muffin, "Thanks mama!" Before her mother could reply, Santana was out the door, practically running to her car.

Santana jumped into her car, throwing her backpack into the passenger seat as she shoved the muffin in her mouth and pulled out of the driveway. The drive to school is pretty short, but Santana wanted to get there a little before the first bell to give Brittany her letter.

Every couple of seconds, she checked the clock. _Crap, crap, crap, I'm so going to be late._ She looked at the clock again. It's 7:08. _Calmate, you have 7 minutes until the bell rings. _

As she stepped out of her car, Santana took a moment to compose herself, but then she heard that dreaded sound, the bell rang. _Of course, you idiot, the bell rings 5 minutes before class as a warning bell in the morning. Gah!_

Santana wanted to act nonchalant. She wanted not to care. She didn't want to run through the halls like a maniac to get this letter to Brittany before class. Despite telling herself not to act like a dork, she found herself running through the halls of McKinley High School.

Her eyes scanned the lockers looking for Brittany's. She's been to Brittany's locker before, but she couldn't remember what number it was. _Why do all the lockers in this place have to be blue? There is too much blue? What is wrong with you? Calm yourself Lopez! _

Out of the blue, Santana remembered writing down Brittany's locker number and combo because Brittany often forgot what her combo was. She searched through her planner and found the information. _Of course, it's 314, you should've remembered that. It's easy as pi._ Santana couldn't help but smile at her own lame joke.

Santana realized that Brittany has probably already been to her locker and is on her way to her first class. Instead of handing the letter to Brittany later, Santana decides to shove the letter in Brittany's locker through one of the slits. _This is what they do in the movies, right? It's romantic. Yeah, that's it. _Santana suddenly became afraid of her own thoughts. She decided that it was probably best to just attempt to forget her thoughts and run off to class before she was late.

* * *

Brittany looked around for Santana, but she was nowhere to be found. The five minute bell had already rung, but Santana still hadn't made her way over to her locker. Brittany knew that this was weird, usually Santana is early. What if Santana is trying to avoid her? _No, she wouldn't do that to me, we're best friends._

After another minute passes, Brittany decides that it's best to just put the note in Santana's locker. _It's weird how I forget where my locker is sometimes, but I always know which one is Santana's. _Brittany laughed at the thought as she shoved the letter into Santana's locker. She then ran off to class, knowing that if she was late to biology one more time, Mr. Berkley would have her head…whatever that means. _I hope it's not like in Alice in Wonderland, because that's really scary. _

* * *

"So, are you coming with us to lunch, or what?" Sugar wondered as she popped her gum. Brittany hated the sound of someone popping their gum.

She tried to ignore how annoying it was and simply replied, "Yeah, I've just got to put a few books away."

Brittany opened her locker for the first time since this morning. When she opened it, a note fell out.

"What's that?" Sugar's eyebrow shot up questioningly.

Brittany knew exactly what it was, "Nothing."

"Oh sure, it's probably some love letter from Dave," Sugar smirked as she pulled out a mirror and checked her makeup.

Brittany quickly read over the note in the cover of her locker. Luckily for her, Sugar didn't really care too much about her covertly reading the note:

**_Brittany, _**

**_This is really the only way I knew how to tell you this, so here it goes. I know that I freaked out last night after we kissed, but it's not because I don't like you. I actually really like you. I like you more than I've ever liked anyone, but I just can't kiss you while you're still with David. But I have to let you know that I'll be waiting. I know that it's unfair to ask you to break up with David, so I won't, but I will be here for you, always, no matter what you decide to do._**

**_You are the only person that I've really felt safe with, you're the only person who really understands me, and you're the only person that I can be 100% honest with. Our friendship really means a lot to me. You really mean a lot to me. I _****_want_****_ need you in my life. _**

**_Please, I don't want what happened to come between us. _**

**_-Santana-_**

A single tear dropped from Brittany's eye before she quickly wiped it away, not wanting Sugar to see. Santana was so patient and understanding. Santana wasn't asking her to dump David to figure out what their relationship means. No, she's telling Brittany to follow her heart and that she will back her up.

Brittany placed the note in her backpack. What Brittany didn't know is that Sugar was watching her and watched as she placed the note in the front of her bag. Sugar desperately wanted to see the letter. If she didn't get a chance to see it, she was at least going to make fun of David for being the romantic type.

"So, did he pour his heart out?" Sugar wondered as Brittany shut her locker with a light bang.

"Huh?" Brittany was taken by surprise.

"David, did he pour his heart out?" Sugar pried.

"Uh, sure," Brittany didn't really want to think of a lie to tell Sugar, so she just decided to let Sugar think what she wants to.

"Let me see it," Sugar practically demanded.

_Oh hell no, _"I don't think so Sugar."

"Oh, come on, let me see it," Sugar continued.

"Not going to happen," Brittany tried to keep her tone as playful as possible, but inside she was very serious about every word that leaked from her mouth.

"Fine, whatever," Sugar said. However, Sugar wasn't going to give up, she was going to get to the bottom of this note one way or another. Maybe she'll just ask David about it.

* * *

"No, you are so wrong!" Quinn practically yelled.

"You don't even know what you're talking about! You wouldn't know the first thing about horror movies!" Santana yelled jokingly back.

"Whatever, I know about horror movies and I'm telling you that Scream is not the best horror movie," Quinn added matter-of-factly.

"Okay, Quinn, I don't think you get a horror movie opinion, you're afraid of the dark! Plus, it has an amazing plotline, a scary killer, and it's freaking hilarious. And not in a totally cheese-tastic way either," Santana shot back.

Quinn rolled her eyes at me, "Cheese-tastic?"

"Yeah," Santana shrugged. _I make up words all the time this is nothing new._

"I accept that you and Brittany are friends, but you better watch out, she's starting to rub off on you," Quinn nudged Santana in the arm as Santana put in her locker combination.

Once she opened her locker, a note fell out of her locker. Santana knew what it was immediately. "Hey, you dropped something," Quinn said picking it up. Quinn began to unfold it.

Santana was a little too flustered and practically yelled, "Don't read that!"

"What is it? A love note from your secret admirer," Quinn joked as she opened it up and glanced at the page.

"For the love of God, please don't read that," Santana tried to rip the letter out of Quinn's hands, but it was too late.

Quinn's expression fell as she looked up at Santana. She handed the letter to Santana without another word. Santana read over the letter carefully, trying her best to avoid Quinn's expression.

**_Santana, _**

**_Last night was amazing. Thanks for coming by to meet my parents, they really loved you. They keep telling me that you're an amazing influence on me. Whatever that means, but I think it's a good thing. _**

**_I know that you were a little worried about us kissing last night, but I just wanted you to know that you don't have to be. I really like you and I know that it's scary, it's scary for me too. You're the best friend that I've ever had. I don't want this to hurt our friendship. I will talk to David, I don't even know why I'm with him in the first place because I feel better with you than I ever have felt with him. I mean, you're amazing, the best. I really hope that we can still be the way we are with each other and that you're not too weirded out. Thanks for not letting me cheat on David. I would have felt bad about it, you're right. You always are. _**

**_PS: Look I'm using the commas right… I think. J_**

**_Brittany 3_**

_Crap._ Santana knew that Brittany liked her back and that Brittany was going to make an effort to see their relationship through, but now Quinn knows too. It's not that Santana didn't want Quinn to know, it's just that she didn't want her to know this soon.

Santana couldn't help herself, as she folded the letter back up, she started crying. She thought for sure that she was going to lose her best friend over this. But instead of running away, or judging her, Quinn simply wrapped Santana in her arms. Santana continued to cry into Quinn's shoulder.

Santana pulled away after a moment and said, "You're not mad?"

"Of course I'm mad, I'm actually furious," Quinn was careful not to raise her tone as she searched Santana's face. "I'm mad because I'm your best friend and you didn't tell me about this, I'm mad because I feel like you don't think that you can trust me. We've known each other since we were in diapers, Santana."

"So, wait, you're not mad at me for being…I don't even know," Santana sniffled.

"For what? For liking a girl? Santana, why would I care? I love you like a sister! The only thing that I care about is that you didn't tell me about this. We used to tell each other everything. What happened?" Quinn practically whispered knowing that Santana wasn't ready for a public announcement of her sexuality.

"I don't know, but I really miss you. I've needed someone to talk to about this and I don't know why I felt like I couldn't tell you, but it's just really hard. I'm so scared," tears continued to stream down Santana's face.

"It's okay, I understand. Just know that I'm here for you, for anything. Now, you need to tell me how all of this happened," Quinn said with a smile on her face, "Because we're best friends and by law you have to tell me about all of your crushes."

"By law?" Santana managed somewhat of a laugh through her tears.

"Yup," Quinn nodded. "I'm sure it's written down somewhere."

Santana shrugged, accepting the answer and said, "Thanks Quinn. I know that I've been a really crappy best friend."

"If I had known what you were going through, I wouldn't have thought twice about the distance you put between yourself and well…everyone else. It's understandable."

"So, lunch," Santana decided to lighten the mood and change the subject, at least for now.

"Oh, don't think you're getting off that easy missy. We're talking about this. Maybe not now, maybe not here, but we are defiantly talking about this," Quinn smiled as the two made their way down the hall towards the lunch room.

* * *

Sugar and Brittany sat down with their food at a table with David, Puck, and Azimio. Lunch was the best time of the day; the time when you got to hang out with your friends, a time when you could be worry free. You could just let go of everything and have a good time, no matter how crappy your day was. Despite the icky food, lunch was a pretty okay time of the day.

Brittany knew, however, that today was going to be a rough, drama filled lunch. She was going to pull David aside and break up with him. She wasn't sure about breaking up with him at first, but after Santana's note, she knew that she had to. Brittany really likes Santana. Santana gives her that butterfly feeling in her stomach. David never did. It really wasn't that hard of a decision.

"So, after that dude caught the ball, I totally laid him out," Azimio fist bumped David.

"Then Dave threw the game winning touchdown, it was awesome!" Puck piped in. Usually Puck was quite, but he couldn't contain his excitement. The football team has been having its first winning season in years.

"Yeah, Dave, you're so awesome. You're an amazing quarterback, and the perfect boyfriend," Sugar commented.

David gave Sugar a brief and confused look before searching Brittany's expression for an answer, "Why do you say that?"

Brittany knew why she was saying it. Brittany tried to shoot Sugar a look that said 'drop it' but Sugar clearly didn't catch the hint and continued, "Well, only an amazing boyfriend leaves love letters to his girlfriend in her locker."

Before Brittany even knew what happened, Sugar pulled Santana's letter out of her backpack and handed it to David. _Oh no, what is she doing!_ Brittany tried to intercept the letter, but David had already gotten his hands on it. That was it, she was doomed.

David's expression turned from excited about the game, to questioning about the letter he never wrote, to furious about what he just read. Brittany didn't know what to expect next.

"You bitch!" David yelled so loud that the entire cafeteria heard.

"Dave, give it back," Brittany said calmly.

"What is it?" Sugar was now genuinely confused.

"This fucking lesbian bitch cheated on me with the Queen of Geek!" David stood up so fast that his chair flew behind him.

Puck looked from David to Brittany, worried about what David might do, "Dave calm down dude."

* * *

Quinn and Santana walked to their usual table. Mike and Tina were already there. They sat at a small table at the far side of the lunch room. The table was only big enough to occupy four chairs, which was perfect for the four good friends. They tried to stay away from the crowds of kids who think they're popular in the middle of the lunchroom. Like everything else, the 'popular kids' feel like they need to be in the middle of everything, the center of attention.

"So, how's tutoring going?" Mike spewed his words like venom. He hated Brittany, but everyone knew that already.

"Hey, lay off," Quinn defended Santana.

"It's okay Q. Tutoring is great, Brittany is really nice and she's really starting to grasp the material," Santana smiled.

"San, are you doing anything after school?" Quinn wondered, ignoring Mike. They were all still good friends, Mike just didn't like the popular kids and held some animosity towards the situation of Santana tutoring Brittany, but ultimately wasn't mad at Santana for it.

"You bitch!" David's voice rang out in the cafeteria.

"What the hell is going on over there?" Tina wondered as the group of four looked toward the rising drama coming from David's table.

Santana and Quinn shared a knowing look. "Mike, you're going to have to back us up on this one," Quinn said as she and Santana stood up from their table. Santana ran over towards Brittany's table. Without thinking, or questioning, Mike followed suit. He didn't know what was going on, but he knew that he had his friends' backs.

Brittany stands up from her seat a little terrified of what David might do next. David stalks towards her. Santana runs in front of Brittany, "Stay away from her you creep, or I'll go all Lima Heights on your gigantic ass!"

"Get out of my way Ellen!" David yelled.

"Oh, you really got me there. I don't think I've ever heard that one. Clever comment of the year goes to, lumps the clown, David Karofsky," Santana kept herself between David and Brittany.

David was about to lose it, but Mike and Puck stopped him. David started to flail around, trying to give Brittany and Santana a piece of his mind…or rather his fist. David managed to squirm free of Puck's grip and punches Mike in the face. He then turns to begin his attack on the girls, but a bulky administrator pulled him away. It wasn't long after that that the resource officer had David in handcuffs.

"You fucking bitch! You fucking…" David shouted.

The resource officer interrupted his yelling, "You shut up right now young man!" The officer then practically dragged David out of the cafeteria.

Santana turned around so that she is facing Brittany. Without saying anything, Brittany wrapped her arms around Santana in a tight hug. No words had to be said.

Unbeknownst to everyone else, while David was going ape-shit crazy, Sugar and Azimio had read the letter that made him go ballistic.

Tina helped Mike up and examined the new bruise on his cheek. Santana let go of Brittany to see if Mike was alright, "Mike, are you okay?" There was newfound worry in Santana's voice.

"Yeah, I've been worse. What a creep," Mike said as he stood up with the help of Tina and Santana.

"Thank you _so_ much," Santana hugged Mike.

"Anytime Santana, but next time can I have some 'you might get hit in the face' warning?" Mike laughed.

"Of course," Santana poked his side playfully.

Brittany helped Puck up off the floor, "Thanks Puck."

"Yeah, what the hell was that all about?" Puck wondered. Azimio tapped Puck on the shoulder and handed him the letter.

Santana and Brittany shared a look. They knew that this was not going to be pretty. Every one of their friends now knew about their feelings for each other. Everyone would have known eventually, but the pair didn't think that it was going to be this soon.

Sugar was the first to break the awkward silence, "What the hell Brittany? This is just…disgusting!"

"Back off super bitch," Quinn stood up for the two.

"No one's talking to you, whatever your name is," Sugar spewed. "How could you even think of kissing a girl? Especially Santana freaking Lopez!"

"Hey, don't talk about her like that!" Brittany shot, looking from Sugar to Santana.

"Sugar's right Brittany! What the fuck? Dave had every right to lash out the way he did!" Azimio added.

Puck pushed Azimio, challenging him, "Dude, you are so wrong, Dave had no right to do what he did, and you have no right to talk to these two ladies like that!"

"I don't see any ladies here, just a couple of lesbian freaks!" Azimio pushed Puck back.

The same administrator from earlier pushed Puck and Azimio apart, "If all of you don't stop this right now, you are all suspended. That means from football as well. Do I make myself clear?!"

Everyone nodded their heads in silent compliance. The administrator looked from Puck to Azimio and finally Azimio threw his hands up in the air and stomped out of the cafeteria. Sugar followed after him, but not before shooting a death glare at both Brittany and Santana.

"Thanks Puck," Brittany says as she wraps her arms around her stomach. She feels like she's going to get sick.

"Anytime," Puck says before adding, "You didn't deserve any of that: not the way David acted and not what any of them said." Puck walks over to Brittany and wraps her up in a tight bear hug.

Brittany felt a hand on her arm after Puck released her from the hug. She realized instantly who it was. She turned and was looking straight into Santana's golden brown eyes.

"Thanks for sticking up for me," Santana said, a few tears flowing freely down her face. Brittany hated seeing her cry, but she understood Santana's tears because she was also crying.

"Always," Brittany replied. "Plus, you stood in front of the psycho, I just used words."

Santana looked deep into Brittany's saddened blue eyes, "You stood up to your best friend for me, and it means a lot."

"Yeah, some friend," Brittany said looking to Quinn. Quinn had been so understanding through the whole thing and Brittany just wished that she had a best friend like Quinn; instead of Sugar.

"I kind of know what's going on, but…huh?" Mike wondered as he observed the transactions taking place in front of him. Brittany simply handed him the letter. Mike and Tina read the letter together. Everyone looked to them to read their expressions.

"Really? This is what that was all about," Tina rolled her eyes.

"Hey, just know, we have your backs," Mike said as he handed the letter back to Brittany without consulting Tina. Tina simply nodded in agreement.

"I'm sorry that Dave hit you," Brittany looked down to the ground.

"It's okay, it makes me manlier. Battle wounds," Mike said proudly.

"Yeah, whatever," Quinn laughed at Mike trying to be a badass.

It was only then that the group in the middle of the lunchroom realized that everyone in the room had their eyes on them. They all felt a little self-conscious.

Before the group could really ease the tension built by David, the bell rang for lunch to end. Everyone grabbed their things and got ready to leave and pretend like nothing really happened.

"We'll talk during tutoring," Santana said as she walked with Quinn, Mike, and Tina out of the lunchroom. Brittany simply nodded in response.

That's the thing about lunch. It's the like a timeout. Everything school related is forgotten for an hour and people have fun and laugh and hang out…or they fill their lives with drama and scream and fight… but whatever happens in the lunchroom is put aside once the hour ends, and everyone has to get back to classes until the end of the day. It's strange; like the lunchroom is a mini Las Vegas of the school system.

* * *

It's eighth hour. That means tutoring. That means that all of the feelings and all of the pain that had been stored away when lunch ended now is finding its way back to the surface. Brittany and Santana knew that they had to talk, but they both knew that it would be hard and they were both afraid of the outcome of the conversation.

"Hey Santana," Brittany practically choked out as Santana sat down next to her.

"Hey Brittany," Santana replied in a voice so low that Brittany almost missed it.

"So…"

"So…"

Neither of them really knew what to say. Where do you even begin after everything that happened? Both of them stared at the desk in front of them for what seemed like forever.

"Britt, I-I really like you…" Santana began.

"I really like you too," Brittany interrupted.

The both laughed, lightening up the rather awkward ambiance that had surrounded them. For the first time since they sat down together, they looked at each other, blue eyes meeting brown.

"So we're on the same page," Santana smiled. She already knew this, but it was nice to have it confirmed.

Brittany looked confused, "What page?"

"We're thinking the same thing, we have the same feelings for each other," Santana clarified.

Brittany nodded, "Yeah, we're on that page."

"But I'm scared," Santana looked defeated as she said the words.

"Scared of what?" Brittany needed some more clarification.

"I'm afraid of the looks that we'll get walking down the halls, the anger that we'll bring out of people's hearts if they knew who we are, the whispers, everything," Santana admitted.

Brittany placed her hand on top of Santana's. "I'm scared too. But, I'm not afraid of that. I'm afraid because I've never done this before, I'm afraid that I'm going to mess up. I'm not the brightest tool in the shed. I mess a lot of things up, and I'm afraid that I'm going to mess this up."

Santana chuckled lightly to herself at Brittany's idiom usage before saying, "You don't need to be afraid of messing up. You won't. You are smart and beautiful and don't need to be afraid just because this is new."

"And you are strong and don't need to worry about what other people think. You are the bravest person I know. You stood up to David. He's like twice your size. You put yourself in between David and me. You are too brave to worry about what people might think. And if anyone were to ever say or do anything mean to you, I'll be there to protect you, like you protected me today," Brittany added.

Santana turned her hand over on the desk and interlaced her finger's with Brittany's. "You're right. You know what, as long as we go through this uncharted territory together, we'll be fine," Santana stated.

"Yeah, we'll be like Lewis and Clark!" Brittany said excitedly.

"Just like Lewis and Clark," Santana laughed with Brittany as she gave Brittany's hand a squeeze.

"You have the best friends," Brittany said randomly once the laughter died down.

"They're pretty cool…Hey, I never thanked Puck for fighting for us," Santana pointed out that Brittany has someone standing up for her too.

"He knows that you're grateful. But, Mike took a shiner and Quinn was ready to cat fight with Sugar. Which means that you're friends are more awesomer."

_Grammar, we need to work on grammar._ Santana thought before saying, "They're pretty okay, huh?"

"Yeah…" Brittany and Santana glanced over at each other at the same time earning a blush from them both.

"So where does that leave us?" Santana wondered.

"I don't know," Brittany shrugged a little sad that she didn't have a solid answer.

"I guess we'll figure it out as we go," Santana shrugged too.

"But, no matter what happens, we're still best friends," Brittany slid her hand out of Santana's and held out her pinkie.

Santana took Brittany's pinkie in hers, "Promise."

"So, I know that there is all this drama, but I still need to get my learning on," Brittany got that bubbly look back in her eyes and Santana was glad.

"Yeah, let's look at some more grammar things and then we can move on to history," Santana said as she reached into her bag and pulled out a notebook.

"I hate grammar," Brittany pouted.

"I think it hates you too," Santana joked.

Brittany crossed her arms across her chest and stuck her tongue out at Santana for the comment. "Meany."

Santana and Brittany shared a smile. Santana loved being around Brittany. She loved hanging out with her, she loved tutoring her, she loved that Brittany stuck up for her, and she loved whenever Brittany would look at her with those piercing blue eyes. "Hey, Brittany…"

"Yeah?"

"I will always be there for you," Santana decided that she had to say something. She couldn't say 'I love you.' At least not yet. They weren't at that point.

"I'll always be there for you too," Brittany said as she picked up her pen and they began their lesson.

Maybe nothing was officially resolved and there are a lot of problems that need to be fixed, but this is still a big step for the both of them. They know that they have people who are willing to support them, they know that there are people who hate them because of their feelings for each other, they know that they have no clue what they're doing, and they know that they're going to get through all of it together. They know that they don't know…and that's okay for now. They don't have all of the answers and they don't need to as long as they have each other.

* * *

**Author's Note:**

"She Is" by The Fray


	7. Where Do We Go From Here?

Brittany and Santana had set up a system where Santana would help Brittany with her lit homework over Skype. They could read the assignment together as they took notes and everything. It was very cool. Technology makes life so much easier. Brittany logged onto Skype waiting for Santana. After a half hour, Brittany decided to text Santana.

**9:11pm – Hey Skype for lit hw? – Brittany **

**9:13pm – Not tonight, I have some other stuff I have to do. Sorry. Maybe tomorrow. – Santana **

Brittany didn't understand, even when Santana had lots of homework, she still got on Skype with her. Brittany couldn't help but think that Santana was avoiding her. _It's probably because of what happened today. She said that she likes me, but what if she changed her mind? _

Worry crept across Brittany's features as she closed her phone and placed it on her desk. The last thing that Brittany wanted was for Santana to ignore her completely after the little cafeteria confrontation. She just sighed and decided that she should get started on her homework alone.

* * *

Santana sat in her room with her guitar in hand. This is what she always did. When Santana had feelings - angry, sad, confused, happy, excited - whatever they may be, she plays her guitar while she tries to figure things out. She lied to Brittany and told her that she had a lot of work to get done. It wasn't a complete lie, Santana did have a lot of work to get done, it just wasn't school work, it was work on herself. Santana needed to figure everything out in her head before she got to school tomorrow so that she can have some idea of how to approach the situation when she talks to Brittany tomorrow.

She didn't know how long she had sat there playing her guitar, but her hands were starting to hurt and she still hadn't really figured things out. Santana is one of those people who likes to be in control of a situation, one of those people who always has an answer, and right now she couldn't come up with anything and it was really getting her down.

Then, the song "Everything's Magic" by Angels and Airwaves came on her IPod. She absentmindedly played along with the song, before she realized that the words really hit home:

And do you ever feel like you're alone?

And do you ever wish you'd be unknown?

I can say that I have…

I can say that I have…

And do you ever feel things here aren't right?

And do you ever feel the time slip by?

And I can say that I have...

And I can say that I have...

_How true that is. _Santana laughed at the thought. She had felt so alone before she met Brittany. She never knew that there were other people who were on autopilot, just going through the motions of a life they never planned for themselves.

So hear this please

And watch as your heart speeds up endlessly

And look for the stars as the sun goes down

Each breath that you take has a thunderous sound

Everything, everything's magic

Just sit back and hold on, but hold on tight

Prepare for the best and the fastest ride

And reach out your hand, and I'll make you mine

Everything, everything's magic

_Brittany is like magic. Her smile is like magic, her laugh, her eyes... Maybe if we give this a try it will be okay. No. It can't be. We'll both just end up getting hurt. I really like her, but clearly bad things can happen if we're together as evident by today's cafeteria fall brawl. _Santana wanted to be with Brittany, but she wasn't selfish enough to just jump into a relationship. She knew that Brittany could get hurt and she didn't' want to let Brittany down. She wants Brittany to be happy.

And do you ever lay awake at night?

And do you ever tell yourself don't try?

Don't try to let yourself down

Don't try to let yourself down

And do you ever see yourself in love?

And do you ever take a chance, my love?

Because you know that I will..

Because you know that I will..

_You know what? Tom DeLonge is right! I have to just take a chance. It might end badly, but that's true about everything. If I don't take a chance, I'll never know…and I have to know. _Santana knew now that she had to forget her fears and just go through with this. It's terrifying, for sure. Of course it is, this sort of thing is never easy, but she'll make it easy if in the end she'll make Brittany happy.

So hear this please

And watch as your heart speeds up endlessly

And look for the stars as the sun goes down

Each breath that you take has a thunderous sound

Everything, everything's magic

Just sit back and hold on, but hold on tight

Prepare for the best and the fastest ride

And reach out your hand, and I'll make you mine

Everything, everything's magic

_If Brittany still feels the same way and wants to try to make this work too, then it'll work. I know it will._ At least, that's what Santana had to believe. She had to believe that no matter what, there would be a positive ending for the two; otherwise, she'd never be able to get the courage to really consider being in a relationship with Brittany after everything that happened already.

Santana took in a deep breath and sighed, content that she had, at least remotely, figured out the situation in her head. She then placed her blue, six string best friend on a guitar stand and decided to call it a night.

* * *

**5:00am – Can you meet me at the school early today? – Brittany **

**5:03am – Sure, when? – Santana **

**5:04am – 6:30? I'll bring coffee :) – Brittany **

**5:07am – Awesome, I'll be there. Meet at my locker? – Santana**

**5:08am – See you then :) – Brittany **

_This girl is going to be the death of me. It's only 5 in the morning. If anyone else woke me up this early, I'd have their head._ Santana rolled out of bed to take a shower. She figured that she might as well get up now because it's going to take her a lot longer to get ready this early in the morning.

* * *

Brittany paced about her room, staring at the lightly painted blue walls. She just needed to wait a while before leaving for the school. She needed to make sure that Santana wasn't avoiding her or having second thoughts. Brittany couldn't even think about it, thinking about Santana was driving her crazy. She had an irrational amount of anxiety over this whole situation. She didn't know why a crush that's she's had for this short of a time was making her this crazy.

Not able to take the silence of her own house, Brittany leaves too early, getting into her car and putting on some music; anything to get her mind off of all the bad things running through her brain about Santana not wanting to be with her anymore. _No one changes their minds that quickly, right?_

Brittany pulled out of her driveway to just drive around for a while, listening to music, and ignoring her brain until she got the coffee she promised Santana and went to the school.

* * *

When Santana pulled up to the school, she could see Brittany's car in the parking lot. She noticed that Brittany was still in her car, so instead of going up to the school, Santana trotted over to Brittany's car and knocked on the window. She startled Brittany a little, but, of course, Brittany let her in.

"Hey Santana, here's your coffee," Brittany handed Santana her drink with a smile.

Santana gladly took it, she felt like a zombie. She didn't really get any sleep last night, "Mmm, Café Mocha, my favorite… Wait, you know my coffee order?"

"I told you, I like you, and you're my best friend. Of course I know your coffee order," Brittany nudged Santana in the arm as if it were obvious.

Santana smiled, taking another sip of the drink, "Thanks Brittany."

The conversation got off to a normal start, but both teens braced themselves for what was about to go down.

"So, I don't know how to make this not sound accusatory," Brittany started.

_Wow, accusatory, nice vocab. _Every moment of the day, even during situations like these, Santana found herself proud of Brittany and everything that she has accomplished. _Oh, wait a second, that doesn't sound good._

"Why did you avoid me last night?" Brittany's eyes filled with sorrow as she looked at down at her coffee cup.

"I wasn't avoiding you," Santana defended herself.

"Yes you were. You didn't Skype with me and gave me a totally lame excuse. You can be honest with me if you're second guessing," Brittany continued to look at her coffee cup like if she starred at it long enough, it would do a trick.

Santana was desperately trying to read Brittany, but she knew that Brittany was right, "Look, I didn't mean to avoid you. I just needed some time to think about things, alone. I'm sorry. But, I'm not second guessing what I said yesterday. I want to be with you. I want to be able to walk down the hall holding your hand, and being able to call you my girlfriend."

"I like the sound of that, girlfriend…" Brittany continued to say 'girlfriend' in a variety of accents and tones. Santana's personal favorite was Brittany's impression of Dory the fish from 'Finding Nemo' speaking in whale. Santana knew that she made the right decision, giving this a try.

The two sat in Brittany's car laughing like idiots and making different impressions of various people. When Santana did a Darth Vader impersonation, they both realized that they had hit rock bottom and had run out of material, but hey, it was fun while it lasted.

"So does this mean that you're my girlfriend now?" Brittany wondered. She knew the answer was yes, but she still held her breath until she heard the word come from Santana's lips.

"Yeah," Santana smiled as Brittany let out a relieved sigh.

"So does this mean that I can hold your hand in the hallway?"

"Of course."

"And does this mean that I can ask you out on a date?" Brittany's eyes lit up in anticipation of the answer.

"Not if I ask you first. Brittany, would…" before Santana could finish Brittany quickly jumped in, interrupting her.

"Santana, do you want to go on a date with me?"

Santana and Brittany laughed in unison. "Yeah, what were you thinking?"

"Movies?"

"I love movies," Santana replied.

"Me too, how about we see the new Footloose?"

Santana smiled. _Of course Brittany, the Dancing Queen, would want to see Footloose._ "Sounds like a date," Santana winked at Brittany.

"Cool," Brittany took another big drink of her coffee and leaned back in her seat.

"We should get going to class, because we're going to be late," Santana pointed to the time on Brittany's dashboard.

Brittany jumped, almost spilling her coffee, "Shit, I can't be late to class again or the Queen of Hearts will have my head."

"Then let's get moving," Santana hopped out of Brittany's car and threw her backpack on her shoulders.

Once the two were making their way towards the school, they interlaced fingers. They put on a façade that said that they didn't care about what people would think of their new relationship, but inside both girls were super nervous. Luckily, they considered themselves the best actresses in the world because of the acts that they used to put on for others.

They walked like this, hand-in-hand, straight to biology because they didn't have time to stop at their lockers. When they entered the room, most everyone was already there. Quinn smiled at her best friend holding Brittany Pierce's hand. Santana smiled back knowing that Quinn totally supported her. Santana owed Quinn more than she could put into words.

When the newfound girlfriends released hands to find their respected seats, they received a few awkward looks from people. Santana and Brittany both knew that they would receive the awkward looks and tried not to care. What they weren't counting on was the continuing wrath of Sugar.

Once Santana sat down, Sugar looked her straight in the eye and said, "Disgusting."

Santana's expression dropped. She didn't want to have another confrontation, not here anyways, and definitely not in front of Brittany. She just pushed it to the back of her mind, trying to forget about it. Hopefully the crowd that Brittany used to associate with will just lay off the two of them sooner rather than later.

* * *

Santana and Brittany were inseparable the rest of the day. The two walked together to each one of their classes, they walked each other to their lockers, and they tried to sit next to each other in all of their classes. It was like they've been together for years, not like they haven't even been on their first date.

Lunch rolled around and they were still together. "Did someone crazy glue the two of you together?" Mike wondered as Brittany sat down at their table with Santana.

Brittany looked to Santana. Santana could tell that Brittany had no idea what crazy glue was and decided to retort with, "Oh you're one to talk. You and Tina are practically attached at the hip."

Brittany looked around the table to see if Mike and Tina were actually attached at the hip. Quinn and Santana laugh, realizing what she's doing and Quinn offers, "She didn't mean that literally, Brittany."

"Oh, good, because that would totally be weird," Brittany commented as she took a drink of her water. She then leaned over to Santana and whispered, "There really isn't crazy glue is there?"

"It's not like psycho crazy, it's a crazy amount of sticky crazy," Santana gave Brittany's thigh a reassuring squeeze.

Brittany nodded and whispered back, "Good, because I was beginning to think that maybe my glue was watching me in my sleep."

Santana smiled and Brittany slipped her hand into the one Santana had placed on her thigh. Brittany was glad that Santana didn't make fun of her. Most people would have written Brittany off or told her that she was stupid at this point. Those thoughts never even crossed Santana's mind.

"Hey guys, do you mind if I sit with you?" Puck asked as he approached the now crowded, meant for four people table.

"Sure," Quinn said a little too quickly. Santana quirked a knowing eyebrow at her. Quinn just blushed and gave Santana a 'we'll talk about it later' look.

"Thanks, I really don't want to sit with Dave, HBIC, and Azimio today. Too much drama," Puck said as he sat down with his abnormally large lunch.

"You planning on eating all of that Champ?" Mike joked.

"Of course," Puck replied as he stuffed some of his sandwich into his mouth. He smiled with a mouthful of food. All of the girls at the table are grossed out, but Mike gives Puck a high five.

"So, how are you two holding up after yesterday?" Puck wondered. You wouldn't know it by the people he associates himself with, or used to associate himself with, but Puck is a really nice and caring guy. Santana couldn't help but hope that it works out with Puck and Quinn because she could clearly see that Quinn had a major crush on him.

Brittany squeezed Santana's hand. They shared a quick glance before Mike decided to answer for them, "Are you kidding, look at them. I've never seen Santana happier."

"True, you two are holding hands under the table and everything, it's really cute," Tina added.

Brittany and Santana looked at each other for a moment with a look of 'we've been found out' on their faces. They both took an awkward sip of water at the same time. Everyone at the table burst out into a fit of laughter.

The lunch conversation was pretty much a bunch of talks about everything and anything, but mostly poking fun at the new couple and how 'cute' they were or how they were 'inseparable'. Santana was being Quinn's wing-woman and was dropping some subtle hints to Puck that Quinn liked him and that he should ask her out.

As much as the group of friends wanted to continue the conversation and just hang out in the lunchroom all day, they had to get going to their next class. Everyone trotted off to their next period, Brittany and Santana still hand in hand.

* * *

**3:23pm – So, I'll pick you up at 5:00 for the movie. – Brittany 3**

**3:24pm – I can't wait! :) – Santana 3**

Both girls put hearts after their significant other's name in their phones. In teenage world this small gesture suggests that the couple is meant for each other. But in all seriousness, they really did seem to click in a way that neither one understood. It's just that when they were together, everything felt…right.

"Let me guess…Brittany?" Quinn laughed at the goofy smile on her best friend's face. Quinn was at Santana's house. They were both sitting on Santana's front porch.

"Huh? Oh yeah, she's picking me up at five for our date," Santana said as she put her phone in her pocket.

Quinn's smile grew across her face, "You two are going on a date tonight?! Why didn't I know about this?"

"I was with Brittany all day, I didn't want her to see how excited I was when I told my best friend, she'd think I was weird," Santana explained.

Quinn gave Santana a 'really' look.

"Yeah, that and, well she kind of had a falling out with her best friend. I didn't want to be all 'hey look best friend, I'm going on a first date with the best girl ever' because she doesn't have anyone to say that to. You know?" Santana looked for some understanding.

"I do, it would suck to go through this without having your best friend there. Make sure that Brittany knows that we're here for her too. Unless she breaks her heart, then the only thing of mine that'll be there for her will be my fist…"

"Hey! But, yeah, thanks Q…So you and Puck huh?" Santana wondered trying to change subjects. She didn't like the images of Quinn punching Brittany swarming around in hear head. One because she didn't like seeing Brittany get hurt and two because she honestly didn't know who's side she'd take in the fight.

"Me and Puck what? I like him, yeah, but I'm sure that he doesn't like me back," Quinn kicked a lone rock on the cement.

"Why don't you think he likes you back? I'm pretty sure he likes you," Santana continued.

"Why would a guy like him ever like a girl like me?"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, I'm going to stop you there. One, you are totally awesome and hot. I can say that now because apparently I'm a little gay. Two, you totally deserve an amazing and nice and wonderful guy who will treat you right, like Puckerman. Three, you can't tell me that it'll never happen because we all know that wacky things happen. Exhibit A." Santana points to herself and continues, "Queen Nerd and Queen Popular are now going out, two girls, who didn't even know that they liked girls. Yeah, so don't tell me that you and Puck will never happen because…"

Quinn cut off Santana's rambling, "You are not going to get to use the fact that you're going out with Brittany as a way to make me feel any better about my chances with Puck."

"He'd be lucky to go out with you," Santana commented on a serious note. She didn't like that her best friend thought so lowly of herself.

"Thanks," Quinn just accepted that Santana is her best friend and she'll keep telling her things like this until she believes her. "So, you never told me how you and Brittany happened. I need to know this story."

"Well, as you know I tutor her. While in tutoring we got to talking about our lives and such. Well, she was treated like crap in her group of friends. She never really wanted popularity and she feels like she was living a life that she didn't really choose…"

"Sounds like someone I know," Quinn nudged Santana in the arm.

"Exactly. That's how we became friends. We understand each other and I don't know how to put it into words, but there was just something there. Everyone is…_was_ always so mean to Brittany, calling her stupid and stuff, and she's not. She's really amazing and we mutually fell for each other. She said that I was the only person who she would really be herself around and I felt kind of the same way. I mean, I can tell you stuff, but you've never really experienced it like Brittany has too, so we just…"

"Connected. It makes sense. Plus, you two go together like two perfect puzzle pieces. I mean, you two aren't exactly the same. You're practically exact opposites, but you fit well together. Not many people can say that. Even Mike and Tina can't say that. They don't click like you two do. We're all super jealous of what you two have and you haven't even gone out on a date yet. That's saying something," Quinn commented.

"Yeah and after tutoring one day, she took me to her dance class with her…"

"You dancing, this I have to see!" Quinn almost doubled over laughing.

Santana hit her in the arm, "I didn't dance! Brittany dances. She's an amazing dancer." Santana said this with such adoration in her voice that Quinn knew that her best friend was absolutely smitten.

"You really like her, don't you?" Quinn's tone was softer than earlier.

"Yeah, I really, _really _do," Santana adds in the same tone.

"Well," Quinn stands up, "then we better make sure that you look really, _really _awesome for your date."

* * *

Brittany was so nervous when she approached Santana's door that her hands were shaking a little. Brittany sucked it up and knocked at her girlfriend's door. _God, that's my new favorite word: girlfriend._

The door to Santana's house swung open. Brittany hadn't been expecting Quinn to be standing in front of her now. "Um, is Santana here? I did come to the right house, right?" Brittany's expression was suddenly frantic.

Quinn couldn't help but giggle a little, "Yeah, she's here. She's coming down right now. She's a nervous wreck, she must really like you."

"Uh-uh, yeah, c-cool," Brittany has never stuttered a day in her life.

"You must really like her too, huh?"

"Am I that obvious," Brittany looked down at her feet.

"Only to the best friend," Quinn smiled and received a smile back from Brittany.

Before anything else could be said, Santana appeared in the doorway. She looked amazing. Santana is wearing a white, skin tight t-shirt, a brand spanking new grey coat, and dark blue skinny jeans.

Santana couldn't help but stare at how great Brittany looked. Brittany has on a super tight fitting maroon, zip up hoodie with a large butterfly print on the chest; dark, almost grey, blue jeans; and black Converse.

"You look," Brittany and Santana said in unison.

Quinn looked from Brittany to Santana and back again, "That's my cue to leave. I'll see you two later." Quinn then proceeded to walk down Santana's driveway and back to her house which is only two houses down.

"You look amazing," Santana commented as she closed her front door.

"You look pretty hot yourself," Brittany winked at Santana and grabbed her hand. "Come on, we're going to be late."

Brittany led Santana to her passenger door and opened the door for her. Santana smiles at her, "No one has ever done that for me before."

"There's a first time for everything," Brittany smirked as Santana slid into her seat.

Brittany shut the passenger door and quickly ran around the car and jumped into the driver's seat. She took in a deep breath in anticipation as she put her keys into the ignition of her Jeep Wrangler. "Ready?" Brittany wondered before turning her keys to start the car.

"Absolutely," Santana said with as much certainty as possible to reassure Brittany.

Brittany smiled at her and turned the keys. Brittany shifted into gear and took off toward the theater. Both girls were so anxious that the car ride was pretty silent. They didn't really mean for it to be silent, but they had no idea what they were doing. Neither of them had ever been on a date with another girl before.

The theater was only a fifteen minute drive away, so they were there and it seemed like no time passed at all. Santana jumped out of her side of the car, _I'll never get used to how big this thing is._ She then walked over and met Brittany at the driver's side.

Brittany reached for Santana's hand and Santana gladly took it, some of the awkward tension easing around them. As they waited in a small line outside the theater to get their tickets, Brittany shuffled through her purse for her wallet.

"Oh no, this one's on me," Santana said as she pulled out an envelope.

"What's that?" Brittany wondered.

"I got some free tickets for volunteering at City Hall," Santana explained.

Brittany's face lit up, "I didn't know that you could get free stuff for volunteering."

"I think they gave me these out of pity. I was working this booth for a youth group for like 12 hours at the city fair," Santana said pointing out her slight sunburn.

"Ouch, I hate sunburns," Brittany delicately touched Santana's arm. Santana wasn't in any pain from the burn anymore, but liked how soft Brittany's touch was against her skin.

"But hey, free tickets!" Santana said excitedly.

"Do you volunteer at City Hall a lot?" Brittany wondered as the line moved forward a little.

"I volunteer with them all the time. I get to do a lot of cool things for younger kids around the city and I help at every city event. It's a lot of fun."

"How did you start volunteering with the city?"

"I'm actually a member of a City Council Youth Focus Panel. So, I started volunteering because of that," Santana explained as the approached the ticket counter. "Two for Footloose, please."

"That's cool. I've never really been big on volunteering, but if it makes you so happy, I think that I'd like to try it," Brittany said with a genuine smile.

Santana grabbed the tickets from the man at the counter, "Thanks." She then turned to Brittany, "I'd like that."

Santana and Brittany then made their way to their theater. Santana wanted to sit in row with the bar to rest their feet on, but Brittany suggested, "We should sit in the back."

"Why? The screen is all tiny looking up there," Santana pouted slightly.

Brittany leaned closer to Santana, her breath tickling Santana's ear, "Because, the back is where couple's sit."

That was all the convincing that Santana need. Actually, Santana led the way to the back of the theater pulling Brittany behind her. Once they found their seats, they sat contently, waiting for the movie to start.

"I'll be right back," Brittany said as she stood up and began walking towards the exit.

"Alright," Santana replied. She wanted to know where Brittany was going but decided not to be the nosy girlfriend and just leave it alone.

Brittany returned five minutes later with a cartoonishly large Slushie with two straws sticking out of it, and a medium bucket of popcorn. "Score, I love Slushies!" Santana excitedly bounced in her seat as Brittany moved back into hers.

"Me too, they're the best!" Brittany mimicked Santana's enthusiasm.

"What kind did you get?"

"I got soda flavored. It's the best, like…"

Santana interrupted, "…A perfectly frozen Coke."

"Exactly! You are so awesome. Best girlfriend ever!" Brittany set the Slushie in the cup holder between the two of them and awkwardly held the popcorn at her side, tilting it up towards Santana.

Santana watched as Brittany tried to perfectly position the popcorn thinking that it was the cutest thing she's seen all day. "I have a better idea," Santana offered as she placed the Slushie in the cup holder closest to Brittany. Santana then lifted up the arm rest between the two, scooted closer to Brittany, and placed the popcorn between them.

"See, this is why you're the smart one," Brittany said with a smile knowing that she would take advantage of this newfound closeness later.

"You're smarter. No argue-backs!" Santana quickly called. Santana heard Brittany curse beneath her breath. Brittany hated no argue-backs.

It was a good thing that Santana called no argue-backs because the movie was beginning to start. Lord knows that Brittany would have argued loudly until she won. Brittany just stuck her tongue out at Santana knowing that she had just been defeated.

The theater was surprisingly empty considering this is the movie's opening night. Brittany and Santana didn't complain though; they liked the privacy. It was like a classic movie cliché. Every once in a while one of them would glance at the other only to be caught in their tracks and dart their eyes quickly in another direction; they would both reach into the popcorn bowl at the same time and their hands would touch and both would jerk away insisting that the other get their popcorn first; and they would get "shushes" from the front of the theater.

About halfway through the movie, Santana found herself leaning into Brittany and cuddling into her neck. Santana loved the smell of Brittany's shampoo. She could just sit there and breathe in Brittany's intoxicating smell for the rest of time and she'd be happy.

Brittany then suavely wrapped her arm around Santana and pulled her in closer to herself. She loved having Santana's warm body cuddled up against her. Brittany let her head lean against Santana's. If there wasn't a loud movie playing and a ridiculous amount of sugar running through her veins from the Slushie, Brittany would have fallen asleep. Brittany didn't know when it happened, but she lost grip on the popcorn bowl and it tumbled to the ground.

Both girls jumped at the accident and laughed it off to themselves. Brittany begins frantically trying to clean up some of her mess, but Santana stops her. Santana cups Brittany's cheek in her hand licks her lips unconsciously. Brittany stares at Santana's full, pouty lips, and her head began gravitating towards Santana's. Their lips were lightly brushing against one another's. Finally the incredibly small distance was closed and their lips pressed together in a soft, chaste kiss.

Brittany found her hand placed on Santana's hip. How it got there, she'd never be able to tell you. They pulled away from the kiss for a moment, looking deep into each other's eyes. It was a look that said that everything was right, it was a look that washed away any uncertainty or fear, it was a look that granted permission to continue, it was a look that confirmed what Quinn had said earlier about the two being meant for each other. The look, however meaningful, didn't last very long before their lips were crashing together again.

Santana loved the taste of Brittany's strawberry lip gloss and Brittany couldn't get enough of Santana's cherry chap stick. Before anything could get too passionate or any more interesting, the lights in the theater turned on signaling the end of the movie.

"It's already over?" Brittany pouted. Brittany leaned over for another kiss, but Santana stood up gathering her things.

Santana liked to be a little bit of a tease, "Yeah, I guess it is."

Brittany stared up at her girlfriend with confusion before she saw the evil smirk grace Santana's lips. _I could stare at those lips all day,_ Brittany thought.

Santana broke Brittany of her thoughts, "You coming?"

Brittany shot up out of her seat, "Yeah, I'm right behind you."

Santana reached for Brittany's hand. Brittany had to practically run to catch up, but it was worth it to have her girlfriend's hand in hers. They walked hand in hand out of the theater. Usually this is when people gossip about the movie and critique it, but honestly, neither Santana nor Brittany could recall any of that movie; which Brittany kind of regretted because it was a dance movie and she loves dance.

When they were back at Brittany's car, they shared a knowing smile. They both knew why neither one talked about the movie and it made them both burst out into a random fit of laughter.

"So, how about that movie?" Brittany wondered knowing that Santana wouldn't be able to recall it at all.

"I think it had to do with dancing, or something," Santana replied feigning innocence.

"Oh, by the way, you're cherry chap stick is awesome," Brittany added to emphasize what both of them already knew. Brittany burst into song for a brief moment, "I kissed a girl and I liked it, the taste of her cherry chap stick!"

"Mmm, your strawberry lip gloss is pretty tasty too," Santana replied trying to contain her laughter.

Brittany leaned across and brought Santana's lips to hers. They shared a short, sweet kiss…much sweeter than the making out they were doing in the theater. Then Brittany puts the car in gear and begins to head back to drop Santana off at her house.

"Can I talk to you about something?" Brittany wondered as she pulled back.

"Anything," Santana replied a little worried about Brittany's now serious tone.

Brittany looked from her dashboard to Santana and back, "I-I want to tell my parents about us."

"You mean you want to come out?" Santana repeated for her own sake.

"Come out of what?" Brittany looked adorable when she was confused.

"The closet…" Santana simply replied.

"I never go in my closet, not since I watched Monster's Inc. I don't want to get trapped in a world with all those scary creatures," Brittany shook her head.

Santana gave her a look of adoration, "But Mike was so cool and fluffy."

"Monster fluffy," Brittany corrected.

"Coming out of the closet means telling your parents that you have feelings for a person of the same sex," Santana clarified.

"Oh, then yeah, as long as I can come out of _your_ closet," Brittany wriggled her eyebrows.

"Please don't tell your parents that," Santana had a genuinely worried look on her face.

_Santana is always so worried. She needs to stop that or she'll get wrinkle lines._ "Of course I won't tell them that. But I do want to tell them. They really like you. I think that they'd be okay with it."

"Please don't be mad at me, but I don't know if I'm ready to come out to my parents just yet," Santana replied, worried about what the consequences of telling her parents would be.

"Why would I be mad at you? Telling people about us, what we have is a hug-monster-closet-fluffy-Mike deal. I mean, we saw firsthand that people can react badly. If you don't want to drop Hiroshima on your parents right away, that's okay."

Santana had to shake off the inappropriate metaphor and decided that when they talk about World War Two that she'll have to tell Brittany about the war crimes that the US committed against Japan. "Thanks for understanding, Brittany. You're a super girlfriend."

"Do I get a cape?" Brittany wondered a little too excited.

"If you want one," Santana offered knowing that she'll end up having to make Brittany a super girlfriend cape later.

Brittany nodded, "So, you're okay with me telling my parents?"  
"Of course. I mean it's your decision. I want to wait, but if you want to tell your parents, I'll support you," Santana said with a little hesitation in her voice. She was uncertain that they should be telling their parents this early into their relationship. They clearly liked each other, but everything was still new for them. Santana wanted to wait, but she understood that Brittany wanted her parents to know and accepted that.

"Thanks," Brittany smiled so wide that Santana would swear that she saw all her teeth.

"Do you want me to come with you? You know, tell them together?" Santana offered to be there for Brittany as a support system in case things took a nasty turn.

Brittany shook her head no, "I think this is something that I have to do on my own."

"I understand," Santana said as they pulled up to Santana's house.

"I had a really great time. Best first date ever," Brittany bounced a little in her seat.

"For sure. Hey, call after you tell them, just so that I know that you're okay," Santana said as she stepped out of Brittany's Jeep.

"Absolutely," Brittany replied as Santana shut the passenger door. Santana walked up to her front porch and opened the door slightly before looking back at her girlfriend and waving goodbye to her. Brittany waved back and took off towards her house.

* * *

Brittany pulled up to her house. The small, light yellow colored house never seemed intimidating, not until now. Brittany had made up her mind in the movie theater that she wanted her parents to know about their relationship. She wanted everyone to know. But now that she's outside her house, she's not so sure.

_Don't chicken out, you can't chicken out. Just tell them and step out of Narnia already._ Brittany opened the door to her car and stepped out. Step by step she crept towards her house. Now she was face to face with her front door. Brittany knew what she had to do, but she wasn't really sure if she could do it. Santana was afraid and wasn't telling her parents yet, so it was okay for her to be freaking out right now too, right?

_No, I have to do this. They'll understand, I'm sure of it. _Brittany slipped her key into the door and pushed it open. She then stepped inside and shut the door behind her. Her heart was beating so loud that it drowned out the sound of everything else. She didn't hear her mother calling her from the kitchen. After a few moments of standing in her front room like a statue, her mother walked in, snapping Brittany out of her zombie-like state.

"Hey sweetie, do you want some Mac 'N' Cheese?" Mrs. Pierce wondered, placing a hand on her daughter's shoulder.

"Yeah, that'd be great," Brittany said in almost a whisper.

Lucy Pierce was worried about her daughter, but she didn't want to bring it up with her just yet. _If she continues to act weird during dinner, then I'll ask her. _

Brittany sat down to dinner at the kitchen island. The Pierce family doesn't usually sit down for dinner; that was just because Santana was over. Usually they eat on the kitchen island or whilst sitting in the living room watching TV.

Brittany didn't like that her deciding to come out to her parents was filling her with all of these worry-type emotions. She wanted all of the happy emotions to come back. All of the post first date emotions. But they were gone. Gone and replaced by a bunch of nerves.

Noticing that both of her parents were eating at the kitchen island with her, Brittany thought that now is as good a time as any, "Mom, Dad, there's something I need to tell you."

"What is it Brittany?" concern was written all over her mother's face.

"Um…I-I don't, I don't know how to s-say this," there it is again, she's a stuttering mess.

"It's okay Britty Bear, you can tell us anything," her father assured her.

Her parents may think that they can handle what Brittany is about to say, but she isn't so sure. "I-I don't even r-really know."

"Take your time," her mother instructed.

Brittany took in a deep breath and built up some courage, "I'm dating Santana." She said the words so fast that she wasn't sure her parents even heard her, but once she looked up at them, the stunned looks on their faces told her that they definitely heard what she said. Brittany quickly averted her eyes back to the ground.

"Well, um, sweetie, that, um," her mother searched for words, "…it's different, but not a bad different. We're sorry; we just weren't expecting you to say that." Mrs. Pierce continued on her quest for words.

"We love you," Mr. Pierce finally said noticing the tears that had formed in Brittany's eyes. "We will always love you."

"Are you happy?" her mother wondered.

Brittany could only nod and mumble, "Yeah, really happy."

"That's all we can ask for," her mother replied.

Brittany looked up at her mother and then to her father and back again like she was watching a tennis match. She didn't think that her parents would accept her so quickly. She thought there would be some yelling and a few 'I don't understands.' Brittany just didn't expect their reaction.

Her parents got up from their chairs and walked toward her. Then they practically dragged her out of her seat and forced her into a big hug sandwiched between the two of them. Brittany was facing her father and was crying freely into his shoulder.

"You shouldn't have been afraid to talk to us, Britty. You're our daughter and we will always love you, no matter what. Especially when it's about something that makes you happy," her father explained.

"You had me so worried. When you came in the house you were as white as a ghost. I thought something bad had happened," her mother was crying too, but not a bad crying, a 'I'm so happy you're alive' crying.

Finally, the three stepped out of the hug and Brittany wiped the tears from her eyes. She smiled for the first time since she got home. She couldn't wait to tell Santana that her parents were cool with their relationship.

"So…do you…like all girls, or…" her father had no idea how to phrase the question.

"I don't know. I really like Santana. She's the only one that has ever made me feel this way, but I don't know if I would like all girls or guys, for that matter, in the same way. So I might be a unicorn, or a bi-corn, but I don't really know. I guess, you just can't help who you fall in lov…" Brittany realized that she was just about to say that she loves Santana. She kind of did, but it was _way_ too early for those kinds of thoughts, right?

Her mother poked her in the side, "You love her?" A smile widened across the faces of all the Pierces.

"I don't know yet…" Brittany replied honestly. She really, really liked Santana, but could she really say that she loved her just yet? She wasn't sure. She wasn't going to say it until she was absolutely sure.

"So, how long have you two been dating?" her father wondered as he got back to eating his dinner.

Brittany sat down and actually started eating her otherwise untouched food, "Not very long. We went on our first official date tonight. We've both had mutual feelings for each other for a while now though. But, only officially for a day."

"What ever happened with that David kid?" her father continued.

"I don't want to talk about that," Brittany looked down to her bowl. Remembering the whole lunch room outburst made Brittany lose her appetite all over again.

"What did he do?" her father had a look in his eye that said that he was going to rip David's head off.

Brittany looked up and tried not to choke on her words, "Um, nothing Dad, don't worry about it."

"It's clearly something," her mother pried.

"Okay, fine. He kinda sorta found out about my feelings for Santana in a not so good way. Oh and he also found out before I had a chance to break up with him," Brittany tried her best to avoid the details.

Her parents looked at each other. They knew that their daughter wasn't telling them the whole truth, but they just left that subject where it was. "I'm glad that you're going out with Santana," her mother said before taking a bite of food.

"Really?" Brittany was going for accepting, she wasn't expecting that her parents would be glad that she was going out with a girl.

"Yeah, she's by far the nicest friend or significant other that you've brought into the house. Plus, she's pretty and smart and she clearly likes you as much as you like her," her mother added.

"Really?" Brittany was beginning to sound like a broken record.

"Oh yeah, if we didn't think that you were straight, we would have thought that the two of you were together the night she came over for dinner," her father said.

"Were we that obvious?" Brittany was a little self-conscious now.

Both her parents just shook their heads yes. Dinner continued with conversations about Santana and how her friends reacted. Brittany's parents told her that they're glad that she's not with David anymore because he was a gross pig and that Sugar is so evil that she could almost be construed as demonic. It was a fairly light hearted and entertaining conversation.

After dinner, Brittany ran upstairs eager to call Santana and tell her the good news. When Brittany called Santana, Santana had already been pacing back in forth in her room for about twenty minutes, staring at her phone on her bed. The phone only rang for a second before Santana answered.

"How did it go?" Santana wondered, not really bothering to say hello.

"It went great, a lot better than I expected," Brittany explained.

"Really? That's great, Brittany, I'm so happy for you," Santana flopped onto her bed and let out a sigh of relief. Santana didn't really know Brittany's parents well enough to know how they would react, but she assumed the worse and was happy to know that Brittany was okay.

"Yeah, they actually said that they're glad that I'm with you instead of Dave. They apparently hated him, who knew? Plus, they said that they really like you. Mostly they're just happy that I'm happy, so that's cool," Brittany continued in more detail.

"You're coming out story almost makes me want to come out to my parents, but I'm sure that if I did that they would try doing an exorcism or something to expel the evil lesbian spirit from my body," Santana laughed and Brittany laughed with her.

"You don't think that they would actually do that?" Brittany shot.

"Oh, you don't even know. You should ask Quinn, my parents are very traditional and very conservative and just might do something that crazy," Santana replied in a serious tone.

"I'm sorry that you feel like you can't come out to them," Brittany tried to console her.

"It's okay. It only sucks because I want them to know about us, I don't want to keep you a secret or anything, but I also don't want to get disowned."

"Oh, and my parents said that you have to come back for dinner again sometime soon so they can get to know more about you," Brittany added as an afterthought.

"Totally, I love your parents," Santana replied. They were pretty cool parents. Plus, Santana loved Mrs. Pierce's cooking. _Delicioso._

"Cool," Brittany replied as she lied down on her bed.

"I'm so proud of you; it must have taken a lot of courage to tell them."

"It did, but apparently, according to my mom, I looked like I saw a ghost right before I told them. So I wasn't _that_ brave," Brittany didn't think that she'd really been brave. She had barely been able to form actual words.

"I think you were," Santana replied. She knew that they could go back and forth about whether or not Brittany was brave for hours, but she knew if she stated it as an opinion instead of fact that Brittany would let it go.

"Thanks sweetie," Brittany replied.

_Awe, we're using pet names and stuff now. God, I need to get ahold of my thoughts. If I said this out loud, people would want to know what happened to the real Santana._ "So, I was thinking that we could go to the park tomorrow. You know, feed the ducks, get some ice cream, the whole shebang."

"Awe, Santana, are you asking me out on a date?" Brittany blushed, happy that Santana couldn't see her through the phone.

"Of course I am," Santana said matter-of-factly.

"Good, because I would love to go on a second date with you tomorrow, especially to feed the ducks at the park," Brittany said, thinking that it was a little childish of her to have said it that way, but didn't really care because she was just super happy to be going out with Santana again.

The two talked until the wee hours of the morning and finally managed to get to sleep around three in the morning.

* * *

**Author's Note:**

"First Date" by Blink 182


	8. When I'm With You

It has been a full week since their first date. Living in the suburbs of Ohio doesn't really give you a lot of room to go out and do a lot, but they still managed to find new and fun things to do. They went to Webster Lake Park and fed the ducks and went out on the paddle boats and ate so much ice cream that they both felt sick and played on the playground like a couple of little kids. They went and played laser tag and miniature golf on Sunday, which Brittany is apparently freakishly good at. They had such a fun filled weekend that both of them wished that it never had to end. But alas, Monday rolled around and they were back at school. They hung out at school and went out for lunch twice. But now it's Friday again.

"Weekend!" some random person screamed as they ran out of the school.

"Someone's excited," Quinn commented.

"Who wouldn't be excited?" Brittany wondered.

"Oh, speaking of weekend, we should totally get in some band practice," Mike commented as the group of friends stood in the hall.

"Yeah, we could all meet at my house tonight," Tina suggested.

"Sounds like fun," Puck commented. "I didn't know that you were in a band." Puck looked to Quinn. The two have been dating since the start of the week.

"There's a lot of things you don't know about me," Quinn winked.

Puck wrapped Quinn up in a hug from behind and asked her, "What instrument do you play?"

"The bass," Quinn replied, happy about the new relationship.

"That's hot," Puck said a little too loud.

Trying to ignore their friend's PDA, Santana turned to Brittany, "Do you want to come?"

"Come to your band practice?" Brittany wondered with a smile.

"Yeah, you took me to your dance practice, I want you to come to my band practice," Santana explained. She wanted her girlfriend to see what she likes to do for fun. Santana wants her to know that she's more than just school and date type stuff.

"I'd love to, if it's okay with your friends," Brittany said.

"It's okay with them," Santana smirked, knowing that her friends wouldn't have a problem with it.

"We should probably get going, see you guys at my house at four," Tina said as she took Mike's hand and they left the school together.

"I think that's our cue to leave," Santana said as she laced her fingers with Brittany's. The couple made their way to the parking lot hand-in-hand. Even though Santana had been afraid of the looks and the whispers just last week, she couldn't care less about what others thought of her relationship with Brittany. She likes Brittany too much to care about other people and what they think.

Santana had picked Brittany up for school this morning, so they were both traveling in the Bug. Santana and Brittany slid into their respective sides of the car. As Santana began driving out of the parking lot, Brittany said, "Thanks for inviting me to your band practice. I've never really seen a band play live before."

"Really? Never? You've never been to a concert?" Santana wondered and started mentally planning to take Brittany on a date to a concert.

"Never," Brittany replied.

"Well, we're not very good, but I'm glad that I get to be a part of your first live band performance viewing," Santana grinned. They were at a red light so Santana leaned over and quickly stole a kiss from Brittany before returning her attention to the road.

Before they knew it, they were at Santana's house. They didn't have much time to get to Tina's place because she lived a little far away. "I'll be right back," Santana said as she ran out of her car and towards her house. She was back in a few minutes with a guitar case in each hand. Brittany quickly stepped out of the car to help her.

"Oh, you didn't have to help me," Santana said as she opened the trunk.

"I wanted to," Brittany smiled up at Santana as she took the bigger looking guitar case.

Santana folded the back seats of her car down and placed the guitars down. With their backpacks and the two guitars in the car, there was really no room for anything else. Brittany was surprised that the both instruments fit in the first place.

Once both of them were back in the car and Santana began driving to Tina's house, Brittany placed her hand on top of Santana's on top of the stick shift. _It's amazing how a simple touch can send a feeling like electricity flowing through your entire body,_ Santana thought as she tried not to get distracted by Brittany's warm hand on hers.

They arrived at Tina's house a few minutes later. They seemed to be the last ones there; seeing as Quinn's and Mike's cars are parked out front. Brittany helped Santana get her guitars out of the back and insisted on carrying one despite Santana's protests. Without knocking, Santana opened Tina's front door and led the way into her basement.

"Hey, sorry we're late," Santana said as they entered the basement. Everyone was already set up and ready to go.

"Hey Brittany," Quinn greeted not really expecting for her to be there.

"Hey," Brittany replied, "I hope you don't mind me crashing band practice."

"Not at all. Actually, it'll be nice to have some feedback on how we sound," Mike said sincerely. Mike had changed his mind about how he feels towards Brittany ever since the altercation in the cafeteria.

"Cool, thanks," Brittany said as she found a seat. All the while, Santana was frantically setting up her guitars. "You have a lot of amps," Brittany commented as she looked around.

"Oh, they're not mine, everyone just leaves them here because it's easier than lugging them all over," Tina replied as she adjusted her drum set.

Tina plays the drums, Quinn plays the bass, Santana plays lead guitar and vocals, and Mike is vocals and rhythm guitar. They were all set up and Brittany was impressed by how professional their little basement setup was.

"Okay, um, so do you guys want to warm up with a few covers?" Mike wondered. Mike didn't really want to do a bunch of cover songs and wanted to get into real band practice, but he also knew that Santana would want to impress Brittany, so he decided that he was going to take one for the team.

"Yeah, let's do 'Landslide' by Fleetwood Mac," Quinn suggested. It was one of the easiest songs they knew.

"You'll sing, yeah Santana?" Mike asked.

"I'm not that great of a singer," Santana wondered why they wanted to play that song.

"You're a great singer," Mike said and leaned over and added, "Show off for your girlfriend."

Santana just sighed and agreed. She didn't think that she was a good singer at all, but she could kind of sing Landslide, so she wasn't going to argue any more than necessary.

"1, 2, 3, 4," Tina counted off.

The song begins with a brief guitar riff. Then Santana started singing a little worried about messing up. Mike joined in on back up guitar.

Took this love and I took it down

Climbed a mountain and I turned around

And I saw my reflection in the snow covered hills

Till the landslide brought me down

_I hope she likes this…or I hope she's as tone deaf as me so she doesn't think that I suck so badly._ Santana thought as she continued to sing.

Oh, mirror in the sky, what is love?

Can the child within my heart rise above?

And can I sail through the changing ocean tides

Can I handle the seasons of my life?

Oh oh I don't know, oh I don't know

Brittany smiled brightly at Santana. Brittany thought that she was really good and that the song was really pretty. This encouraged Santana to relax a little and actually enjoy performing.

Well, I've been afraid of changing

'Cause I've built my life around you

But time makes you bolder

Children get older I'm getting older too

Yes I'm getting older too, so

Santana started to really get into the song and started to ham up her performance a bit. She was happy when Mike and Quinn joined in with backup vocals in the chorus. _Show off for your girlfriend_, Santana thought back to Mike's words as she really got into the solo and added a couple of complicated licks

I've been afraid of changing

'Cause I, I've built my life around you

But time makes you bolder

Children get older

I'm getting older too oh yes

I'm getting older too

_How true this song is,_ Brittany thought as Santana winked at her. Brittany thought that it was absolutely adorable how much Santana got into her performance.

So, take this love, take it down

Oh if you climb a mountain and you turn around

If you see my reflection in the snow covered hills

Well the landslide will bring you down, down

And if you see my reflection in the snow covered hills

The song began to really slow down. Quinn, Mike, and Tina had all stopped playing. It was just Santana and her guitar.

Well maybe the landslide will bring you down

Well, the landslide will bring you down

With one last note, the song came to an end. That was probably the most fun that Santana's had with the band in a while. Santana likes that she could perform and be herself on stage with Brittany in the audience. Brittany sat in her chair clapping her hands together with a huge smile on her face.

"We suck, we know, but just wait, this next one will blow your mind hole," Tina said as she began to play 'Dance, Dance' by Fall Out Boy.

"Hey I was awesome girl Chang!" Santana retorted as she moved to a backup microphone.

"Oh, I love this song!" Brittany shouted as she stood up out of her chair.

Mike moved to the lead vocal microphone.

The song began and Quinn came in with the bass followed by Mike on the vocals and finally Santana on the guitar. As the song layered and built, Brittany began to dance to the song as she remembered it from the music video. Throughout the song, Quinn and Santana would do signature Fall Out Boy spins with their guitars. They even did a little trick that they haven't in a while. Santana ran towards Quinn and Quinn ducked down, only pushing up lightly when Santana's back was on hers, rolling over her. Towards the end of the song, Santana ducked down as low to the ground as she could get and Quinn jumped completely over, spinning in the process. It's something that they've always done to jazz up songs, but they haven't done it in a while. It was risky, but a lot of fun.

At the end of the song, everyone was laughing and having a good time. "You're an amazing dancer," Mike commented as he took a drink of water. Tina slapped him in the back of the head.

Brittany laughed at the small altercation, "Thanks Mike."

"She's better than amazing," Santana said as she gave her girlfriend a peck on the lips.

"Mmm, you're amazing," Brittany replied going in for another kiss, completely forgetting about her surroundings.

"Ladies, please, with the PDA," Quinn threw her jacket at them.

Santana threw it back a little embarrassed, but not too concerned. "So we don't suck?" Santana wondered.

"You guys are actually really good," Brittany responded with honesty.

"You're just biased because she's your girlfriend," Quinn rolled her eyes at the two.

"No, really, you guys should try to get some gigs around town," Brittany suggested.

Santana shrugged, "Maybe."

Tina huffed, "I've been saying that for, like, forever and you're just now thinking it's a good idea?"

Santana smirked, "What can I say? My girlfriend's a genius."

Brittany blushed several shades of red, "What's the name of your band anyway?"

"Well we don't really have a name per se. We are kind of going with Stress Management right now," Quinn replied.

"Stress Management, huh?" Brittany contemplated the name.

"Yeah, we decided on Stress Management because that's pretty much what this is. I mean, we come, play music, forget about the rest of the world and just have fun," Mike clarified.

"We were originally the Dancing Paperclips, so Stress Management is a step up from that," Santana laughed at their old name.

"You guys were the Dancing Paperclips?" Brittany almost peeled over laughing.

"Yeah, it was a geek thing. We were trying to come up with the best geek name. We figured that when life gives you problems, Microsoft gives you dancing paperclips, so we thought it might be a cool name. Later we realized, not really," Santana shrugged.

"I like it. It has dancing in it," Brittany commented with a twirl.

"We should play some of our stuff," Quinn suggested as she slung her bass back over her shoulder.

"Yeah, let's do 'Seventeen'," Santana suggested.

For another hour or so, the group played through some of their songs and a couple of other covers. They just hung out and had a bunch of fun playing. Eventually, it was six and it was time to quit. Tina's parents always got upset if the group played much after six. They were much more lenient on the weekends, but they still didn't want to get into trouble, so they just called it quits.

As Santana was placing her guitars back into their cases, Brittany came up behind her, wrapped her arms around Santana's waist, and placed her head on Santana's shoulder. "How come you've never brought me to a practice before today?" Brittany wondered.

"We haven't really had any since we became friends. Everyone was distracted, especially me," Santana placed her hands on her girlfriends. Santana then turned her head to give Brittany a light kiss. Brittany accepted the answer and released Santana from her grip so that she could continue putting her things away. Brittany helped wrap up a couple of cords with Santana.

Unbeknownst to the newfound couple, there was a little conversation about them going on just a few feet away.

"They're really cute together," Quinn commented as she pulled the strap off her bass.

"I don't think I've ever seen Santana this happy," Mike added.

"It's nice to see her being herself again. She was so distant and just all doom and gloom for a while there. I mean, since sophomore year she's been playing the part, but now, she's found herself again. It's nice to have her back," Quinn continued.

"Brittany seems really happy too. They're great for each other. They're like completely different, but it works somehow," Tina chimed in.

For Brittany and Santana, life was finally getting back to normal. They could be themselves around each other and around their friends. Tina was right, the couple is really different, but the differences don't matter to the two because they love the differences about each other. If they were the same person it would be boring. Being different makes it great.

* * *

"Really mija?" Santana's mother wondered as she closed the book she was reading.

"Yeah," Santana gave her mom and odd look.

"You haven't been trick or treating in years," Santana's mom raised an eyebrow at the subject.

"Well, you're only young enough to beg strangers for candy once. I figure that I should squeeze these last two years out," Santana explained. "Plus, we're taking Mike's little brother."

"I still think it's weird. You are a young lady Santana; you should start acting like one."

"Mama, please?" Santana begged.

Santana's mom was reluctant, but she sighed, "Fine, you can go out with your friends."

Santana hugged her mom with the excitement of a child about to see Santa Claus, "Thank you so much Mama."

"Have fun, don't get into too much trouble," Santana's mom called as Santana was about to leave.

Santana turned back around and ran back into the living room, "Oh, mama, I'm going to be spending the night at a friend's house, is that okay?"

"Sure, mija, call me before you go to sleep," her mother said before Santana bolted out the door to get to Brittany's house.

The night was going to be a blast. First, Tina, Mike, Brittany, and Santana are going to take Mike's little brother trick or treating. Then they are going to go to Puck's Halloween party. Santana and Brittany planned to finish the night off with a horror movie marathon. Santana was practically bouncing in her seat with excitement.

She arrived at Brittany's house just a few minutes later. She grabbed her bag full of pajamas, clothes for tomorrow, and an array of horror movies, and she grabbed the pillowcase she planned on using to collect copious amounts of candy.

Santana then skipped up the steps to Brittany's front door. Santana is dressed as Batgirl. She was clad in a black 'leather' skirt, a rather constricting black sleeveless top with a batman logo on the chest, a bright yellow 'utility belt', black sleeves with 'spikes' coming off them, a black cape, knee high 'leather' booths with a small heel, and a black mask that went across her eyes, not really concealing her identity all that well. She had straightened her hair to top the look off.

Santana knocked on Brittany's door. When Brittany answered she was already in her Robin costume. She was wearing a short, green skirt, a red top that was just as clingy as Santana's. The top had short green sleeves and the Robin logo on the right side of Brittany's chest. She also had green pull on sleeves, a neon yellow 'utility' belt, equally yellow cape, and a pair of boots and a mask similar to Santana's. Brittany's outfit was really shiny and she looked great in it.

Both girls found themselves staring at their significant other. Brittany swallowed a lump in her throat, "You look amazing."

"Sexiest Robin I've ever seen," Santana replied with a sultry smirk on her face.

"Hey, you're not wearing the mask with the bat things," Brittany commented on the lack of a Batgirl mask that Santana was wearing. Santana had bought a simpler mask as a substitute.

"It looked ridiculous," Santana defended herself.

"Whatever, you look super hot so I'm not going to complain," Brittany pulled Santana in for a brief kiss.

"Hey, is Santana here," Mrs. Pierce wondered as she came to the door. Santana and Brittany separated from their kiss a little embarrassed.

"Yeah, she's here," Brittany pretended that nothing happened.

Mrs. Pierce gave the two a look and equally pretended like it never happened, "It's nice to see you again, sweetie."

"It's nice to see you too, Mrs. Pierce," Santana replied trying not to blush from embarrassment.

"Come inside," Mrs. Pierce offered.

Santana followed Brittany inside her house. "We're going to have our movie night in the basement," Brittany informed Santana as she led her downstairs.

The Pierce's basement was huge. Their basement had some really soft carpet, a bathroom, a large TV, a long couch, a couple of comfy looking chairs, and a small bar area. It looks like it was designed specifically for movie watching. Santana set her bag down, "You're basement's really nice."

Brittany had to laugh, "My dad built it for Super Bowl parties, but my mom insists that he built it for family movie night."

Santana laughed with her, "Sounds like something my dad would do."

"Let's go before Mike gets mad," Brittany suggested. Santana knew that was code for 'let's go so we can get as much candy as humanly possible'.

Brittany and Santana both loved Halloween, but for different reasons. Brittany liked all of the candy and dressing up. Santana liked watching horror movies, hanging out with friends, and eating candy that she bought at the store on the 'day after Halloween' special.

Santana and Brittany hopped in Brittany's car and drove off to Mike's house. Mike, Tina, and Mike's little brother were all out front waiting for the two. Quinn was going to be at Puck's all night, so she opted out of trick or treating.

"It's about time you two got here," Mike said with a smile.

"Sorry," Santana and Brittany said in unison.

"Hey, Joey, this is Brittany," Mike introduced them.

"Nice to meet you Joey," Brittany offered him a hand which he timidly took. Joey is only seven.

"You're really pretty," Joey told Brittany as he let go of her hand.

"You're pretty handsome yourself Mr. Lightyear," Brittany replied. Mike, Tina, and Joey were all wearing matching costumes from Toy Story. Mike is Woody, Tina is Jesse, and Joey is Buzz Lightyear. They were so cute together.

"Mike, let's go get candy," Joey whined.

"Your wish is our command," Tina replied. The high school kids were just as excited to go get some candy as the seven year old.

The group walked around for about two hours asking a bunch of strangers for candy. They had a blast and got so much candy that it was actually getting a little too heavy to carry. It was hard to tell who had more fun, Joey or Brittany. Both skipped hand in hand from house to house. At one point during the night Mike asked, "Hey are you jealous that my little brother is getting more play than you?" Santana simply replied by sticking her tongue out at Mike. Yup, Halloween defiantly brought out the child in everyone.

There were a couple of pervs who were totally checking Brittany and Santana out in front of the little kid. If Joey weren't there, Santana would have certainly given them a piece of her mind. Instead, she just let it go.

When they finally returned to Mike's house, Joey was about to pass out. He had been really energetic all night, but now he's practically comatose. However, before Joey went inside, he made sure to hug Brittany goodbye. Brittany is really good with kids and Joey was no exception; he had immediately fallen in love with her.

"We'll meet you two at Puck's place," Tina said as the group of three walked into Mike's house.

Brittany and Santana returned to Brittany's car. They carefully placed their candy in the back seat like they were bags of gold. Brittany had a smile plastered on her face. "That was so much fun, I love Halloween!"

_I love you,_ Santana thought before saying, "I love Halloween too, especially since I get to spend the night with you." That earned Santana a long, but tender kiss from Brittany. Santana loved how soft Brittany's lips are. _Much better than any guys lips._

The two then drove off to Puck's house. The party could be heard down the block. Music was blasting, all the lights were on, and there were people everywhere. The couple hopped out of the car and made their way into Puck's house.

Once inside, the music is so loud that the two could feel the beat throughout their entire bodies. Strobe lights, black lights and red lights lit the house. Puck even had a disco ball in the middle of the dance floor. Various decorations filled the house from skeletons to pumpkins and everything in between. There wasn't anything that Puck didn't think about.

Brittany read the look of awe on Santana's face, "You've never been to one of Puck's parties, have you?"

Santana shook her head no, "Holy crap."

Brittany grinned at her girlfriend, "I know, it's pretty awesome, huh?"

"Hey, hey, hey, if it isn't the Dynamic Duo," Puck yelled to Brittany and Santana over the music.

"Hey Puck!" Brittany hugged Puck.

"I like the costumes!" Quinn commented, yelling equally loud over the music.

"Thanks Q!" Santana said with a hug.

Quinn and Puck were dressed up as a zombie cheerleader and zombie football player. _Clever,_ Santana thought to herself. She knew in that moment that Brittany and she definitely had the best couple's costumes. _It's weird how Quinn manages to pull off that cheerleader look so well._

Brittany pointed to the dance floor and yelled, "Dance?"

Santana just nodded her head instead of yelling over the music. Brittany wrapped her hand in Santana's and practically dragged her to the dance floor. "Party Rock Anthem" by LMFAO was blasting through the speakers. Brittany started to do the dance to the song. Santana followed Brittany's movements and soon both were shuffling around like idiots. Rather, Santana was shuffling around like an idiot and Brittany looked amazing.

Soon after the song ended a very familiar song took its place. "Thriller" by Michael Jackson started to play in the speakers and Brittany's face lights up. She starts in on the choreography, and all Santana can do watch the mesmerizing sight.

"Sam!" Brittany shouted over the music. Someone that Santana recognized as a person from Brittany's dance class runs over with a couple of other people. They all start to dance in sync to the music. It looked just like the choreography from the music video, except there were superheroes and vampires and hippies instead of just zombies. Santana was thoroughly enjoying the sight as the group continued through the routine.

Soon the group attracted a rather large audience around them. Who could blame all the spectators? It was quite a sight to behold. Santana couldn't keep her eyes off Brittany as she hit every move with precision. Suddenly the song was over. Santana could swear that the song used to be longer, but she didn't dwell on it because she got to dance with her girlfriend again.

Before Santana could get to Brittany through the crowd of people now invading the dance floor, a douchey looking guy with really tight fitting jeans and a tight leather coat approached Brittany. His hand slid across Brittany's lower back and Brittany pushed him away. "Get away from me you creep," Brittany spewed her words with venom.

"Oh, come on baby," the douche tried to pull Brittany closer to him to dance. Brittany had a look of disgust on her face and tried to push him away, but he was too strong.

"Get away from her!" Santana yelled, pushing at the guy.

"Do you want to join the party too?" the douche practically groped Santana. Brittany then proceeded to punch him in the face.

"What the hell?!" the douche held his face where Brittany had just punched him.

"No one touches my girl," Brittany said with a very serious tone as she wraps her arm around Santana's waist. Santana was in utter shock. She had never seen Brittany like that before. Santana actually thought that it was pretty hot the way her girlfriend took charge of the situation like that.

By this time, Puck and a few of his friends came over to throw the guy out. They did so successfully. "Thanks Puck," Santana said as Puck and his friends forced the douche to leave.

"What a jerk," Brittany said pulling Santana closer to her, "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, thanks for that," Santana replied grateful to have such a great girlfriend. She then leaned in and whispered, "I think it's kinda hot."

Santana's whisper sent shivers down Brittany's spine. Without another word, Brittany moved away from Santana only to invite her back to the dance floor with a 'come hither' motion of her index finger. Santana obliges and moves to stand in front of Brittany. They begin to move their hips to the rhythm of "DJ Got Us Falling in Love" by Usher. The two stare deeply into each other's eyes. Santana brings her arms up to hang on Brittany's shoulders and Brittany rests her hands on Santana's hips. Brittany smiles widely at the already huge grin on her girlfriend's face.

In a daring move, Brittany pulls Santana closer to her and they're hips meet, gyrating together. Santana knew that she should be worried about the people around her, but she surprisingly wasn't. All she cared about was Brittany and how awesome it was to dance with her.

It's like time didn't exist as the two danced. Songs passed in number, but neither seemed to get tired. During one of the songs, Brittany turned around so her back was facing Santana. She proceeded to drop to the floor and slid up Santana's front. Santana thought that her heart had stop beating in that moment. Brittany turned back towards Santana with an evil grin on her face. Brittany loved the effect that she had on her girlfriend. Brittany then leaned down and pulled Santana out of her stupor with a kiss. _God, this girl is going to be the death of me,_ Santana thought as she deepened the kiss.

Santana felt her phone go off. She quickly grabbed it out of her utility belt and looked down.

**10:58pm – B careful, ur starting to attract a crowd ;) – Q**

Santana showed the text to Brittany who laughed with her. The two looked around and, sure enough, they had attracted a small crowd of perverts. Instead of continuing the 'show' the two decided that they were going to start to make their way back to Brittany's house.

Brittany and Santana found Quinn and Puck. They quickly said their goodbyes and left. Brittany loved dancing and Santana loved dancing with Brittany, but there were pretty done with the party. They were just ready to get to Brittany's and have a nice quiet night of movie watching together.

They were both back at the Pierce house shortly. Brittany practically shot out of the car to open the door for Santana. "You're being quite the gentleman tonight," Santana teased.

"_Gentlewoman_, thank you very much," Brittany replied as she shut Santana's door. Brittany then grabbed the candy out of the back seat. She handed Santana her bag and then laced the fingers of her free hand with Santana's.

They walked into the Pierce house hand-in-hand. They were greeted by Brittany's father, "Hey girls, how was trick or treating?"

"Lots of fun," Brittany replied.

"Oh, I have to get a picture of you two in your costumes, before you get in your pajamas!" Mrs. Pierce said excitedly.

Brittany and Santana posed for a couple of pictures. They did a couple looking picture, a serious 'we're badass superheroes' picture, a couple of ridiculous pictures, and one picture where they looked like they were about to fight some villain. It was all very fun.

"Alright, well you two go have fun," Mrs. Pierce said knowing that the girls had gotten tired of the parental picture taking.

"But not too much fun!" Mr. Pierce clarified as the girls made their way into the basement.

Brittany groaned, "Daaaaad!" Santana thought that it was all very amusing.

Once downstairs, the girls flung their candy to the couch. "I cannot wait to get out of this," Santana said as she grabbed her pajamas out of her bag.

"Tell me about it, I can barely breathe in this thing," Brittany said as she grabbed some pajamas that she put downstairs earlier. Santana walked into the bathroom to get changed while Brittany just got changed in the basement. Brittany tried to reach around and grab the zipper on her costume, but it was no use, it was stuck.

"Crap," Brittany whispered to herself. She then walked over to the bathroom and knocked.

Santana walked out of the bathroom dressed in a tank top and short shorts. Brittany had to mentally slap herself to keep from staring. "Why are you still in your costume?" Santana wondered confused.

"I can't get it off," Brittany pouted.

"I got it," Santana smiled.

Brittany turned around and lifted her hair out of the way. Santana tugged at the zipper a couple of times and it finally came down revealing the creamy white skin of Brittany's back. Brittany turned around to thank Santana. "Um…I think you have a little drool," Brittany joked.

Santana wiped her face with the back of her hand. Brittany just laughed and kissed Santana on the forehead. Then Brittany walked into the bathroom to get changed. Santana couldn't help but be consumed by thoughts of how beautiful her girlfriend was. Finally, Brittany emerged from the bathroom dressed in a large red t-shirt that said "DANCE" across the front and "Pierce" on the back and she had on some large black sweats. _Only Brittany can pull off that look and manage to look amazingly sexy._

Brittany noticed the makeshift bed that her parents made for them on the floor. There was a dance mat where the coffee table once was with a sheet covering it. There was an assortment of pillows and blankets set to the side. Brittany silently thanked her parents.

"So, what do you want to watch first?" Santana wondered.

"I don't know, I haven't really seen a lot of horror movies. You choose," Brittany suggested.

"Want to watch the new A Nightmare on Elm Street?" Santana wondered.

"Sure," Brittany replied not really knowing much about the movie.

"Cool," Santana said as she walked over and put the movie in the DVD player.

Brittany was already digging into her candy by the time Santana had set up the movie. As the movie started Santana pulled a Snickers out of her bag, _Gross, there better not be more of those in here._

Brittany pulled a Crunch bar out of her bag and thought, _Yuck, I hate these things._

Brittany and Santana looked at each other, shrugged and tossed the candy in their hands to the other person. The both fell into a fit of laughter.

"How could you not like Snickers?" Brittany shot.

"They're so gross and that stuff gets caught in your teeth. How could not like Crunch Bars?" Santana shot back.

"The crunchy rice stuff is really weird. It feels like I'm eating that Rice Crispy cereal caught in chocolate. It's freaky," Brittany explained matter-of-factly.

"I can't figure this thing out," Santana said as she tried a couple of the fifty thousand remotes to get the movie started.

Brittany picked up one of the remotes and said, "I've got this one." She winked at Santana as she pressed play and the DVD began to run.

Just as the two girls were about to get settled for the movie, Brittany yells, "WAIT!" Brittany quickly pauses the movie and bolts upright.

"What is it?" Santana wondered worried.

Brittany doesn't answer, but she's back before Santana could get to her feet. Brittany then hands Santana a water bottle. "If we're going to be eating all of this candy, we're totally going to need to get our iguana on," Brittany explained.

_Iguana? Oh, agua, like water. Got it,_ Santana thought as she took the water bottle and set it down next to her. "Thanks, babe," Santana lightly pecked Brittany's lips.

Brittany turned the movie back on and as the two watched the movie they ate an inhuman amount of candy. During the scary parts of the movie with Freddie in them, Brittany would hide her face in Santana's shoulder. Santana would try to assure her that everything was going to be okay, but Brittany still seemed genuinely scared.

Santana offered to turn off the movie and pick something else out, but Brittany insisted that they watch it all the way through. During one of the scarier scenes, Brittany covered her ears and hid her face in Santana's shoulder again. Santana wrapped her arms around her girlfriend, "You're safe. Nothing bad is going to happen." Santana kissed Brittany on the forehead and held Brittany close to her.

"Tell me when it's over," Brittany said not moving an inch.

"Okay, I will," Santana said as she grabbed the remote and fast-forward to the end of the movie. Santana waited a couple of seconds, liking her girlfriend being this close to her before she said, "It's over honey, the movie is over."

"No, it's not possible, they were just figuring out what was happening," Brittany furrowed her eyebrows in confusion.

"I guess it's just a really crappy movie," Santana offered as an explanation.

"Let's watch another one," Brittany feigned being brave. Santana loved that her girlfriend was willing to watch another movie that she was terrified of for her. But Santana wouldn't have it.

"You know what? Can we watch a different favorite movie of mine instead?" Santana wondered.

"Yeah, what is it?" Brittany asked curiously.

Santana had brought a couple of funny movies just in case. She didn't know how Brittany would react to a horror movie, but based on her personality, she guessed not well. She had been right. "Mean Girls," Santana replied. Santana specifically brought Mean Girls because she knew that it was one of Brittany's favorites.

"That's my favorite movie too! Karen is my favorite character of all time!" Brittany was excited, but Santana could still see the little bit of fear in Brittany's eyes from the horror movie.

"Good," Santana said as she got up to change the discs in the DVD player. Once she sat back down Brittany looked around for the remote to play the disk. She could have sworn that she left it right next to her.

"Santana, do you see the remote?" Brittany continued to look for it. Santana picked up the remote from next to her and handed it to Brittany.

_I knew that the movie wasn't over yet. There was no way. Awe, she fast-forwarded through the movie because she knew I was scared. But she loves those movies. I should tell her that we can watch the rest of it. No, I should let her win this one. _Brittany had a little mini fight over what her next move should be in her head. She decided that she should just turn on Mean Girls. She wanted Santana to be happy, but she could tell that Santana wasn't happy during A Nightmare on Elm Street because she had been so scared. Santana had just spent most of the movie trying to make Brittany feel safe.

Mean Girls started to play and Santana already appreciated the atmosphere more. She liked to see Brittany happy, not scared. _That's more like it,_ Santana thought as Brittany sat back comfortably and ate some more candy. Santana was shocked by how much candy Brittany had eaten. Santana had eaten a considerable amount, but Brittany was still going. _Where does she put it all?_ Santana couldn't help but wonder. Her girlfriend is very skinny, with some serious washboard abs, and she didn't understand where all of this food was going.

"Four for you Glenn Coco, you go Glenn Coco," Brittany repeated a couple of times laughing harder every time she said it. Santana loved her girlfriend's laugh. She could just sit there and listen to Brittany laugh all day and be perfectly content with life.

Eventually Brittany yawned and curled up in Santana's lap. Santana started to absentmindedly run her hands through Brittany's beautiful blonde locks. _God, her hair is so soft._

The movie finally came to a close and Brittany sat up yawning loudly. Apparently yawning really is contagious because Santana yawned soon after. "We should go to sleep," Brittany suggested.

"But I don't want to," Santana pouted. "I want to spend more time with you awake."

"You look like you're going to pass out," Brittany commented.

Santana crossed her arms over her chest defeated, "So."

"So, we should get some sleep," Brittany said kissing Santana on the cheek as she got up to move the pillows and blankets into a more sleep-happy position. Santana got up and helped. Soon they had a fairly sleep-worthy looking makeshift bed.

Once they were both sliding into the makeshift bed, it became awkward. They didn't really know what they should do. Should they cuddle really close to each other? That sounded good, but were they at the 'cuddle really close together' part of their relationship? They silently agreed that they were going to sleep close to each other but not really cuddle style.

"Goodnight, baby," Brittany said as she made herself more comfortable.

"I don't even know how you're going to sleep with all that sugar you ate," Santana replied.

"I have my ways," Brittany smirked.

"Alrighty, goodnight babe," Santana stole a lingering kiss from Brittany before moving back to her original position in bed.

Both girls quickly fell asleep.

* * *

Brittany sat up violently. Even though they weren't really touching, the movement woke Santana up. Brittany was visibly shaking.

"Baby, what's wrong," Santana's voice was full of worry as she quickly wrapped Brittany up in her arms.

"I had a nightmare. It was about the man with the knives for fingers. I can't have a nightmare about him Santana, he'll kill me," Brittany was really shaken by her dream.

Santana placed a kiss on Brittany's collarbone, "No one is going to hurt you, not while I'm around. I'll keep you safe. As long as I'm with you, you're safe."

"I know," Brittany replied as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"Here, lie back down," Santana said as she moved so Brittany could comfortably lie back down. Santana got as close to Brittany as she could, wrapping her arms around the blonde. She held Brittany in her arms and told the blonde that she was going to be okay and that no dream monster would ever hurt her because Santana would kick his ass. Brittany loved how safe and secure she felt in her girlfriend's arms. She also loved Santana's scent, like lavender. In Santana's embrace, Brittany quickly drifted off into a deep slumber.

* * *

Santana woke up to a bright light shining into the room through one of the windows in the basement. She mentally cursed at the morning light. Before she began moving, she noticed the beautiful blonde in her arms. Santana gently moved one of Brittany's blonde locks away from her beautiful face and smiled at how innocent the girl looked in her sleep. Santana took in a deep breath and was hit by an amazing scent. The girl lying next to her smelt like citrus, but with sweet and floral undertones. Santana wanted to get up and stretch, but she couldn't bring herself to wake the sleeping beauty next to her.

Santana lied there watching Brittany's chest rise and fall in a slow rhythm for a while. _I wonder if Brittany would find this creepy or romantic? _Santana decided that Brittany would probably think it was romantic and just stayed there unmoving. The light eventually hit Brittany's face and she awoke with a grumble.

"Good morning sunshine," Santana said as she planted a kiss to Brittany's neck. Brittany whimpered at the contact.

"How long have you been awake?" Brittany wondered as she placed her hand on top of one of Santana's hands that was around her waist.

"Not long," Santana lied. She's been awake for about a half hour. She just couldn't bring herself to wake Brittany up.

"Liar," Brittany replied as she turned a little to look her girlfriend in the eyes.

Santana took this time to kiss her girlfriend on the lips, _Morning breath be damned._ Santana brushed her lips against Brittany's before taking Brittany's lower lip into mouth and sucking lightly.

_This is the best way to wake up ever!_ Brittany thought as she turned and wrapped an arm around Santana's neck to pull her deeper into the kiss. Santana stroked her hand up and down Brittany's stomach, feeling her amazing dancer-abs.

When the two finally broke for air, Santana said, "I'll be right back." Santana quickly went to the bathroom. She decided that she might as well brush her teeth while she was there so she did that too. Santana opened the bathroom door when she started brushing her teeth so Brittany knew what she was doing. Brittany quickly joined Santana in brushing her teeth.

The two were going to make their way back to the bed, but before they got there they saw a note on the bar. Brittany picked it up.

**_Breakfast when you want it. _**

**_- Love Mom. _**

"Hey, breakfast is ready," Brittany said as she set the note back down.

"Cool, let's go. I love your mom's cooking," Santana said excitedly.

"I'll race you," Brittany said as she began running up the stairs.

With the unfair head start, there was no way Santana was going to catch Brittany, but that didn't mean that she wasn't going to try. Santana chased after her girlfriend only catching her when she came to a stop in the kitchen.

The smell of the food was amazing. Santana searched the counters to see what Mrs. Pierce had made. _Yum, chocolate chip pancakes!_ Santana thought that the two of them had consumed enough chocolate last night to put both teens in a sugar coma, but she wasn't about to say no to chocolate chip pancakes.

"So, Mom, when did you leave that note downstairs?" Brittany wondered.

"About an hour ago. You two were too cute to wake up," Mrs. Pierce replied.

Santana blushed, slightly embarrassed. Brittany's mother had seen them together, cuddling in bed. _That can't be good,_ Santana thought as she shoved some pancake into her mouth.

"Mom!" Brittany looked down at her food equally embarrassed.

"What, you two were adorable," Mrs. Pierce defended. "And you were fully clothed which was a plus."

"Mom, please stop talking," Brittany pleaded.

"Alright, alright," Mrs. Pierce held her hands up in surrender. Mrs. Pierce left the room to sit with her husband in the living room to watch the morning news.

"Thanks for doing that last night," Brittany said quietly. She didn't want her parents eavesdropping.

"Doin' 'ut?" Santana wondered with a confused look and a mouth full of pancakes.

"For a couple of things. First, for pretending the scary movie ended like an hour before it actually did," Brittany stated. Santana gave Brittany a small grin saying 'crap, I've been caught'. Brittany continued, "Second for keeping me safe. You're the only person I've ever felt that safe with. I wouldn't have been able to sleep without you there."

"Anything for you," Santana wanted to kiss Brittany, but refrained because her parents were so close by.

Brittany smiled shyly and reached for Santana's hand which Santana gladly took. Every time the girls held hands both felt the same little bit of electricity that traveled through their bodies. It was a good feeling, one that both of them could definitely get used to.

"I-I love you," Brittany said a little worried. She didn't know if Santana felt the same way, she didn't know if she was saying it too early, she didn't know a lot of things, and it scared her.

"I love you too," Santana replied squeezing Brittany's hand. Santana looked to where Brittany's parents are sitting. She decided to take the gamble. Santana reached out and cupped Brittany's face and leaned in to give Brittany a chaste kiss. Santana didn't let the kiss linger for too long because of the proximity of Brittany's parents, but the kiss was necessary. As they pulled apart, both stared into each other's eyes never wanting to look away.

* * *

**Author's Note:**

First of all, I would like to send a quick thanks to those who have reviewed this story. I appreciate your comments and hope that you continue to enjoy this work.

And as always, the song for this chapter is going to be "True Romance" by Motion City Soundtrack.


	9. Please Forgive Me

It's now December, the happy couple has been going strong for months (which is like years for a high school relationship). Finals have just finished up and everyone is excited to finally be basking in the relaxation of winter break.

Santana has been amazed every day by how hard Brittany is working to get good grades. Her grades were slowly rising, but it was finals that they were both worried about. Finals count for a significant part of your grade and Brittany has never been very good at testing. Santana desperately wanted to tell Brittany that she might have a learning disability because she wanted her girlfriend to have a fair chance at getting good grades. It's not that Brittany is too stupid, _God I hate that word,_ it's that Brittany just can't finish tests as quickly as other students (a symptom of her supposed learning disability).

Even though finals were over and everyone's grades were secretly sealed and waiting to be delivered, Santana knew that she had to tell Brittany. Santana and Brittany share everything. The secret that Santana harbored was eating at her. She needed to tell Brittany for both their sakes.

Brittany and Santana were sitting on Brittany's front porch. Brittany was worried. Santana said that she had to talk to Brittany about something, and by the expression on Santana's face, Brittany could tell that the conversation wasn't going to be easy.

"What's wrong," worry filled Brittany's tone as she wrapped her hand in Santana's.

"Nothing's wrong, baby, I just… We share everything, you know, and I've had this on my mind for a long time and I just really need to tell you," Santana continued, but her breath got caught in her throat.

Brittany placed a hand on the small of Santana's back, rubbing gently and encouragingly, "You can tell me anything sweetie."

Santana leaned over and pulled some papers out of her backpack. It was all of the research that Santana had done on Dysnomia. She handed the papers to Brittany. "What is this? Homework?" Brittany laughed as she took the papers.

Brittany began reading over the papers, paying special attention to the highlighted sections and notes made in Santana's handwriting. Brittany realized that the papers were about a learning disability and that it was clearing being related to her by the notes made by Santana. Brittany looked up to Santana, "What is this?" Brittany wasn't confused, but angry.

"Brittany, I love you," Santana started as she squeezed Brittany's hand. "I-I think that you might have a learning disability."

"What the hell Santana?!" Brittany shouted as pulled her hand out of Santana's.

Santana was hurt by the gesture, but figured that she should have expected that much. "It's just that you're…"

"What? That I'm so stupid?" Brittany looked disgusted as she stood up.

"No, Brittany, you're not stupid," Santana stood up with her.

"Well you're basically calling me a special needs kid. I thought that out of all people that you would never think that I…" Brittany said exasperated.

"It's not like that, please hear me out," Santana wanted to explain, but Brittany didn't give her a chance.

"Whatever," Brittany said as she ran into her house, shutting the door in Santana's face.

Santana knocked on the door shouting pleas for Brittany to hear her out, but Brittany didn't respond. After about a half an hour sulking on Brittany's front porch and realizing how stupid she had been for bringing up the learning disability in the first place, Santana decides to head home.

Once at home, Santana tries texting Brittany. Since Brittany wasn't talking to her, maybe she'd reply to a text.

**4:12pm – I'm sorry, I love you – Santana 3**

**…**

**4:20pm – I didn't mean to hurt you, baby. I just want to help you, please talk to me – Santana 3**

**…**

**4:35pm – Please hear me out Brittany. I'm so, so sorry. Please talk to me – Santana 3**

Santana hadn't received a single reply from Brittany. She knew after not getting an immediate reply after the first text that she wasn't going to get one back, but she had to keep trying. She loves Brittany more than she has ever loved anyone. She couldn't just let Brittany slip through the cracks because of this silly fight.

Then Santana realized that there was only one way that she was going to be able to talk to Brittany…

**_Brittany, _**

**_I love you, and I do NOT think that you're stupid. I can't understand why you would ever believe that I would think that you're stupid. You're one of the smartest people I know. You didn't understand school, you accepted help, and you're working really hard to get good grades. I admire everything you do. _**

**_You understand everything Brittany. I know that you understand once I teach it to you in a special way. You're not stupid, you just learn differently than most people and that's NOT a bad thing. If you're lucky enough to be different than everyone else, then you should never change. And I don't want you to change, but I do want you to have a fair opportunity to succeed. I want you to have everything and more. The only reason why I believe that you have Dysnomia is because you learn in the way that most people with this disability do. If you get help, you could be a super genius, smarter than Albert Einstein. :)_**

**_I'm just trying to help you have the best shot possible to be successful. I love you. You have such a bright future ahead of you and I want to make getting to that bright future easier for you. Please accept my help and my love. _**

**_~ Santana 3_**

Santana folded up the letter and placed it in an envelope. She wrote Brittany's name across the front and wrote, "Please give me a chance," on the back. She quickly drove back to Brittany's house and placed the letter in her mailbox. Santana hoped, more than anything, that Brittany would read the letter and understand that Santana wasn't calling her stupid and that Santana's intentions were only to help Brittany.

* * *

Brittany couldn't believe Santana. After everything that they've been through, how could Santana possibly do that to her? Brittany held a small stuffed duck to her chest. She almost felt bad for the stuffed duck; she was practically squeezing the life out of it. But then again, her mom got her the duck so she wouldn't do that to Lord Tubbington or Charity again. She got into a lot of trouble for that before.

Brittany just wanted all of her thoughts to disappear. She wanted everything to go back to the way it was before. She found bliss in the ignorance she had to the information Santana gathered. Brittany was literally breaking. She felt like the world around her was collapsing. She knows that she's stupid, but she never thought that Santana would say it out loud. She thought that Santana was the one person that she could trust. She thought that Santana was the one. _I guess I was wrong,_ Brittany sobbed at the thought into her stuffed duck.

Lord Tubbington meowed from the floor below her. Brittany smiled down at the oversized cat. "At least you'll never betray me," Brittany said as she picked Lord Tubbington up. "Hey, have you been smoking again?" She wondered as she smelt the fat cat. "I told you Lord T, it's not good for you to smoke. Plus, you know how Charity feels about that."

Lord Tubbington just meowed and looked into Brittany's tear filled eyes. Brittany set the cat down on her bed. Lord Tubbington was a little too fat to really get up on the bed on his own. He just needed a little bit of help to get up there. Lord Tubbington meowed at Brittany like he understood what she was feeling.

"I know Lord T, I love her, but I just can't be with someone who thinks I'm stupid. It hurts too much," Brittany wrapped her arms around her stomach, like she was shielding herself from an invisible force. Lord Tubbington continued to stare at his owner. "Oh, don't give me that look Lord T. You can't possibly side with Santana in all of this. I thought you were my friend?" Lord Tubbington meowed and looked towards Brittany's nightstand.

On the nightstand is a picture of Brittany with Santana at the pond feeding the ducks. There was even a rainbow behind them. It was Brittany's favorite picture ever because it had all of her favorite things in it. It had ducks and a rainbow and…Santana. Brittany set the picture face down. It made her feel ill just looking at it. The pain Santana caused her couldn't be reversed. Brittany curled up in a ball on her bed, holding her pillow tightly to her chest. She sobbed into the pillow until she passed out from the sheer exhaustion of it all.

* * *

Brittany woke up the next morning, changed into some presentable looking clothes and walked downstairs. She knew that her mom would want to make her breakfast and she wanted to just grab some water and pretend like she ate. Brittany didn't really have much of an appetite after everything that has happened.

"Hey Brittany, could you go grab the mail?" Brittany's father wondered Brittany's eyes were still puffy red from crying all night. She was happy to get the mail, hoping that it might distract her, however briefly, from the pain that she was feeling. Brittany never thought that she could be so hurt by anyone.

Brittany walked to the mailbox; there were only a few letters in there. She shuffled through the mail, hoping that her grades might be in there. Then she saw a letter with her name written on it in Santana's handwriting. She almost tore the letter in two right there, but she decided against it. Brittany has been trading letters with Santana for so long that she couldn't bear the thought of ripping up a letter from her.

She took the mail in the house, set it on the counter, and ran upstairs with Santana's letter in her hands. She stared at the letters forming her name on the envelope for a long time. She thought about opening it, but then she couldn't bring herself to do it. Lord Tubbington gave Brittany an inquisitive look. "I can't do it Lord T. I just… I can't," Brittany started to cry again. She didn't even know that it was possible for someone to cry so much. She thought that her tear ducts were certainly dried up from sadness by now. Brittany wiped the tears away and tried to remain strong.

Santana had hurt her so bad, how could she open a letter and read the words of someone who hurt her like that? Then again, she should open the letter. Santana has done so much for her; Brittany should open it just because Santana deserves it…on some level…she deserves a change. Brittany flipped the letter over as she continued the battle in her head about opening the letter or not. Then she saw the small note scribbled across the back of the envelope.

**_Please give me a chance. _**

After reading those five words, Brittany was compelled to at least read the letter. She wasn't convinced that she was going to forgive Santana, no matter what the letter would contain, but she was going to at least read it.

Brittany cautiously opened the envelope and gingerly pulled the letter out. She read the now tear stained letter over and over. One line in particular stuck out to the blonde:

**_If you're lucky enough to be different than everyone else, then you should never change. _**

Brittany realized that Santana didn't want her to change and go to special classes and get extra help because she couldn't understand. All Santana wanted was for Brittany to have the opportunity to be herself and be happy and successful. _I'm so stupid,_ Brittany thought to herself as she threw the letter on her bed. "You were right Lord T!" and with that, Brittany practically sprinted out of her house. Brittany didn't even bother getting into her car and driving to Santana's house. Santana only lives a neighborhood over, so Brittany just ran to her house.

Brittany was out of breath when she frantically knocked on the Lopez's front door. Santana answered looking questioningly at Brittany. "I'm sorry I'm so stupid," Brittany said in between attempts to catch her breath.

"Baby, you're not stupid," Santana said as she stepped out on the porch. Santana's parents were both home, and she didn't want them to know about her being with a girl just yet.

Brittany took another step towards Santana and Santana wrapped her arms tightly around her. "I am stupid. I'm stupid for thinking that you thought that I was stupid," Brittany cried into Santana's shoulder.

"Shh, it's okay. I love you; I would never say anything like that to you. Hell, I would never think anything like that about you," Santana cooed. "And stop saying you're stupid. I hate that word."

"Me too," Brittany replied as she took a step back from her girlfriend. "I love you so much."

Santana didn't care about her parent's proximity; she leaned up and kissed her girlfriend passionately on the lips. After oxygen became necessary, Santana said, "I'm really glad that we're not fighting anymore."

"Me too, I was only away from you for a day and I already started missing you like crazy," Brittany admitted. It was so hard to try to hate Santana. Brittany was so glad that she didn't have to be mad at her any more. It was too much work and far too painful.

After a few moments of silence, Santana wondered, "So did you get your grades yet?"

"No, have you?"

"Yeah," Santana smiled.

"And…" Brittany didn't like that Santana built up the anticipation.

"Straight A's," Santana smiled even wider.

"I'm so proud of you S," Brittany wrapped Santana up in a hug.

"Don't you have dance today?" Santana wondered as she looked at the time on her phone.

"Yeah," Brittany replied.

"We better get going then," Santana said as she quickly ran inside and grabbed her keys.

"I need to get my stuff from my house," Brittany explained when Santana emerged from her house with her keys and purse.

"Alright, I'll step on it," Santana winked at Brittany as the two raced to the car and quickly went to Brittany's house to pick up Brittany's dance things.

Brittany jumped out of the car with, "I'll be right back!"

Brittany ran inside her house, up the stairs, grabbed her dance bag, said thanks to Lord Tubbington, and ran back down the stairs. "Hold up Speedy Gonzales," Mr. Pierce halted Brittany's advancement towards the door.

"I'm going to be late to dance, Dad," Brittany complained as she moved towards the door.

"Invite Santana to dinner tonight!" Mr. Pierce shouted as Brittany ran out the door.

"Alright, I love you Dad, bye!" Brittany shouted back as she made her way to Santana's car. She quickly hopped in the car.

"Ready?" Santana wondered. Santana always waited until Brittany was buckled in before she took off, no matter how much of a hurry they were in.

"Yeah," Brittany said as she clicked her seatbelt into place. Santana then took off towards the dance studio, challenging the speed limit. "Oh, so my dad wants you to come to dinner tonight."

"I always love dinner at the Pierce house," Santana smiled, never removing her eyes from the road.

"I always love dinner with you," Brittany amended.

"I love you," Santana amended further.

"I love you too," Brittany added as they pulled up to the studio.

Both teens jumped out of the car and ran inside. The class was just about to start. Brittany quickly pulled on some sweats and ran to join the group. Santana sat down in a chair against the wall. One of Santana's absolute favorite things was to watch Brittany dance. She wished that Brittany's dance classes were longer so that she could watch her dance more, but alas, they were only an hour and a half long.

When Brittany's class finished, she changed into some street clothes and sprayed herself with some body spray to get rid of her post-dance class funk. She then ran over to Santana and wrapped her up in a hug. "You were amazing today," Santana whispered into Brittany's ear.

"You say that after all of my dance classes," Brittany accused.

"And I mean it every time," Santana replied.

"You're the best girlfriend ever," Brittany smiled widely.

"I know, right?" Santana pretended to brush something off her shoulder.

"You're a dork."

"But I'm your dork," Santana leaned up to kiss the taller blonde.

"Mmm," Brittany began as she pulled away from the kiss, "I really like that you're my dork."

Santana couldn't help but laugh. Santana slid her hand into Brittany's and gave it a light squeeze, "Do you want to come to band practice with me?"

"Absolutely," Brittany smiled. Santana led Brittany out to her car. "We have some time to kill before dinner anyways. Do we need to go grab your guitars?"

"I've decided to just store them at Tina's house. It's a lot easier than lugging them back and forth," Santana shrugged as she stepped into the car.

"Oh, okay, that makes sense," Brittany commented as she placed her hand on top of Santana's on the stick shift. A shot of electricity flowed through Santana's body from the contact. Brittany smiled at the effect she had on her girlfriend.

The rest of the ride to Tina's house was spent in a comfortable silence, both teens just enjoying each other's company. Once they were at Tina's house, they made their way to the basement where the others were already gathered. Santana always ended up being the last one to practice.

"The Dynamic Duo is late again," Mike commented. "If this were Gotham City, we'd all be doomed."

"Why do you guys keep calling us the Dynamic Duo? It's been going on for months and I just want to know what that's all about," Santana wondered.

"It's because we were dressed up as Batgirl and Robin for Halloween, the Dynamic Duo," Brittany explained.

Everyone, except Santana, looked at Brittany like they were surprised that she knew that, "Oh, that makes sense," Santana scratched her head.

Both teens laughed as Santana took out her acoustic guitar.

"Whose bass is that?" Brittany wondered pointing to the extra instrument sitting against the wall.

"Mine," Santana replied.

"You play the bass too?" Brittany cocked an eyebrow.

"Yeah," Santana shrugged her shoulders like it was no big deal.

"You're amazing," Brittany smiled.

"You're more amazing," Santana leaned up for a kiss but was interrupted.

"Please don't," Mike and Quinn said in unison.

"Don't be such a cock block Boy Chang and Captain Peroxide," Santana pulled away and Brittany pouted. Instead Santana kissed her hand and blew it towards Brittany. Brittany accepted that as a reasonable alternative.

"Okay, so we have to learn a bunch of Christmas songs in a short amount of time," Tina tried to move things along.

"What for?" Brittany wondered as she took a seat.

"We're playing for a Christmas party hosted by the city. They said that they wanted the songs to be more teen friendly, so we're going to put a little bit of a rock twist on all of the songs," Quinn explained.

"Oh, that's cool. What songs?" Brittany wondered.

"Good question," Santana wandered over to her music stand and flipped through the pages. "We're doing Jingle Bells, Silent Night, Baby it's Cold Outside, Deck the Halls, Frosty the Snowman, I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus, I'll be Home For Christmas, It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year, Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree, Rudolf the Red Nosed Reindeer, Santa Claus is Coming to Town, and Winter Wonderland. Wow, we have to get cracking," Santana said as she picked up her guitar.

Stress Management went through all of the songs, got an idea of how to play everything, and decided to call it a day and practice the songs more later. They added some power chords and cool riffs into the songs to make them more 'relatable to the young people'. They tried not to change up the lyrics of the songs so that everyone could sing along with them. Brittany was bobbing her head back and forth, singing along to all of the songs the band had played.

Brittany really liked listening to today's band practice because they were doing Christmas songs, and those were her favorite. "You guys were great," Brittany commented as Santana put her acoustic in its case and picked it up.

"Thanks, babe. Hey, you actually have a really good voice," Santana commented.

Brittany blushed, "Thanks." Santana kissed her on the head and grabbed Brittany's hand in her free hand. "Hey, I thought you were leaving your guitars here."

"I have to practice, so I'm just going to bring my acoustic home," Santana explained.

"Okay, maybe you could teach me something after dinner," Brittany suggested.

"Only if you teach me how to dance."

"Deal," Brittany squeezed Santana's hand.

Santana put her guitar in the back seat, since she was only bringing one home, there was room to put it in the back seat without having to put the seats down. Then she hopped in the car where Brittany was already waiting for her. Santana shifted into gear and began lazily driving towards Brittany's house. They were in no hurry. They were actually probably going to be a little early for dinner.

Once at Brittany's house, the two teens walked to the door and opened it up. Santana brought her guitar with her so that her car wouldn't get broken into. She used to live in Lima Heights Adjacent and growing up there teaches you to never leave valuables where people can see them. Once they were inside, they were bombarded with the sight of streamers and other decorations.

"Oh God, it's not your birthday, is it? No, wait, you're birthday isn't until February second," Santana's brain tried to wrap around what this could be about.

Then at the same time they saw the big sign that said "CONGRATS!" Santana and Brittany looked at each other, both clearly confused.

"Hey, Mom, Dad, what is this all about?" Brittany wondered as she pointed to all of the decorations.

"Why don't you see for yourself," Brittany's mom handed her a piece of paper.

Both Santana and Brittany scanned the paper together. Simultaneously they realized that it was Brittany's report card. She got straight A's. They both looked at each other, mouths open in shock. Santana then shouted, "This is so great!" She picked the taller dancer up in her arms and twirled her around once before setting her down. "I'm so proud of you!" Santana pulled Brittany into a bone crushing hug.

"I-I can't believe it," Brittany was on the verge of tears.

"Sweetie what's wrong?" Mrs. Pierce wondered.

"Happy tears Mom, they're happy tears," Brittany clarified; still in the arms of her girlfriend.

"I'm so happy for you," Santana whispered into Brittany's ear.

Brittany buried her face in the crook of Santana's neck. "Thank you," Santana hardly heard Brittany say because her voice was muffled by Santana's shoulder.

"So, we figured, screw dinner and go straight to cake," Mr. Pierce said as he set a store bought congratulations cake on the table.

Brittany turned and her eyes lit up at the sight of the cake. Brittany's a bit of a sugar addict, so of course, she loves cake. Brittany pulled Santana towards the cake. Santana read the blue frosting words on the cake which said, "Congrats Brittany and Santana!"

"Why does it have my name on it?" Santana wondered. The cake made it look like they were getting married, or expecting a baby, or something like that.

"Because you've helped me so much silly," Brittany guessed.

"We invited you here to celebrate because if it wasn't for you and how much you care about Brittany, well, things wouldn't be the same," Mr. Pierce explained.

"You're the best thing that's happened to Brittany since she started high school," Mrs. Pierce added.

"No," Santana said as she paused for a moment to hold back tears, "Brittany's the best thing that happened to me."

Brittany turned and hugged Santana, pulling her in close. "I love you," Brittany breathed into Santana's ear.

"I love you too," Santana whispered back.

"Let's cut the cake!" Mrs. Pierce suggested excitedly.

"Yeah, I wants to get my cake eating on!" Brittany said.

Santana loves that Brittany has been adopting the way that she speaks. Mrs. Pierce smiled adoringly at the way Santana looked at her daughter. Mrs. Pierce didn't really know how she was going to deal with her daughter being in a lesbian relationship, but Santana and Brittany are just great together.

Once the cake and milk were served, everyone was talking excitedly about how proud they were of Brittany and how grateful they were of Santana. However, Brittany still looked like she was a little too shell shocked. Santana didn't like that her girlfriend was in a bit of a stupor, so she decided to initiate a little food fight.

"Hey, Brittany, you have a little something on your face," Santana said with an evil grin on her face.

"Where?" Brittany wondered as she wiped her face with a napkin.

Santana scooped some icing off of her piece of cake and wiped it on Brittany's face. Brittany was shocked by the bold move. Brittany knew that Santana knew that it was going to be on like Donkey Kong. And it was. Brittany grabbed some icing off of her piece of cake and wiped it down Santana's cheek.

"I think you have something on your face too," Brittany laughed at the expression on Santana's face.

The two continued wiping icing on each other and even shoving cake into each other's' faces. Somewhere along the way, Mr. and Mrs. Pierce had joined in and it was an all-out cake fight in the kitchen. A couple of minutes later, when everyone was thoroughly covered in cake, they called a truce.

"Oh, I have to get a picture!" Mrs. Pierce said as she grabbed her camera and snapped a few shots of the frosting covered couple.

"Um, can I use your shower?" Santana wondered as she looked down at herself covered in blue icing.

"Of course, dear," Mrs. Pierce said. Brittany and Santana began going up the stairs when they heard Brittany's mom's voice say, "No shenanigans girls!"

"Mooooom!" Brittany shouted back embarrassed.

Santana laughed at the transaction. They finally reached Brittany's room. Santana wrapped an arm around Brittany and pulled out her phone. She turned her phone on camera mode. "Smile," Santana said. Santana took a picture of the both of them covered in frosting. Santana had her tongue sticking out dangerously closer to her girlfriends icing covered face.

Santana showed Brittany the picture to which Brittany commented, "Cute." Brittany then turned and kissed her girlfriend.

"You taste like cake," Santana laughed into the kiss.

"Best kiss ever. Oh, um do you need clothes?" Brittany wondered as she pulled away, licking her icing covered lips.

"Yes, please," Santana replied as she looked down at her clothes caked in frosting.

"You can take a shower in the guest bedroom's shower. There are already some towels in there. I'll bring you some clothes after I wash my hands off," Brittany pointed in the direction of the guest bedroom. Santana already knew where it was and was just happy to get all of the blue dyed frosting off her body. _I look like one of those gay Smurfs,_ Santana thought to herself when she saw herself in the mirror.

Santana took a long, hot shower and tried to get all of the blue off. She wasn't sure that she had gotten it all out of her hair, but she figured that she had tried hard enough and stepped out of the shower. She no longer looked like the newly initiated member of the Blue Man Group, so she was happy. She quickly towel dried her hair and walked out into the guest bedroom to get changed into the clothes Brittany had laid out for her.

She had to laugh to herself at the outfit that Brittany picked out. Brittany laid out a pair of unicorn-covered sweats, which is what Santana expected, but for the top Brittany had picked out her favorite dance t-shirt for Santana to wear. Santana picked it up. The shirt was the large red t-shirt that Brittany wore to sleep in on Halloween night. It said "DANCE" on the front and "PIERCE" on the back. Santana laughed one more time before slipping the clothes on. The clothes smelt like Brittany. Santana's nostrils were filled with Brittany's lovely citrus, sweet, floral scent. _I need to find a word for that,_ Santana thought to herself as she fixed the shirt hanging on her shoulders.

Santana returned to Brittany's room. Brittany's door was open and Brittany was already sitting on her bed with her laptop in her lap. Brittany's eyes immediately looked to her girlfriend once she entered the room. _She looks so great in my t-shirt,_ Brittany thought as she set her laptop aside.

Brittany frowned at the expression on Santana's face, "What? Do you not like the shirt, or is the unicorn pants? Because you said that you like unicorns and that they remind you of how magical this world can be." Brittany wondered.

"I love the unicorn pants Britt. And I like the shirt, but I just feel a little owned," Santana replied turning around and pointed to the last name 'Pierce' that went across the back of the shirt. Santana turned back around with a smile on her face.

"That's because you're mine," Brittany replied devilishly patted the space on the bed next to her for Santana to join. Santana quickly joined Brittany on the bed.

Santana bit her lower lip, "I don't think that I mind that."

"Good," Brittany replied as her lips gravitated towards Santana's. Their lips brushed lightly together before colliding with more force. Santana took Brittany's bottom lip between her own and sucked lightly on the soft flesh. _She still tastes like cake_, Santana thought to herself and she ran her tongue over Brittany's lip. Brittany opened her mouth to allow Santana's tongue access, but the girls abruptly stopped when they heard a knock on the door.

"Come in," Brittany practically choked on her words.

"I just wanted to let Santana know that I have her clothes in the wash," Mrs. Pierce said with kind eyes.

"Thanks, Mrs. Pierce," Santana replied.

Mrs. Pierce left the room and shut the door behind her. "Worst timing ever," Brittany said half to herself, half to her mother who already left the room.

Brittany turned to face Santana again. Santana cupped Brittany's cheek in her hand and said in a quiet, welcoming tone, "You are so incredible. You've been through so much, more than anyone should have to go through in a few months and look at you. You're winning. People counted you out, but you showed them that they were wrong. I admire you so much."

"Admire me for what? I haven't really done anything," Brittany blushed from her girlfriend's compliments.

Santana looked into Brittany's blue orbs, "You did what everyone told you that you couldn't do. You got straight A's Brittany, it's a big deal. You stepped up to your friends and changed the entire way that you live your life. You chased your dreams and you didn't care what others thought. You came out to your parents. You've done so much. You're absolutely stunning and I admire everything that you've accomplished."

A single tear ran down Brittany's cheek. Santana wiped it away with the pad of her thumb. Words didn't need to be said. The loving expressions on both teen's faces as they looked deep into each other's eyes wrote of novel of words that didn't need to be said aloud.

* * *

**Author's Note:**

"I'm lost without you" Blink 182 with a side of "Sorrow" by Boxcar Racer


	10. Liars, Cheaters, and Deceivers, Oh My!

School's back in session. Winter break was fairly uneventful other than the concert that Stress Management played. It was pretty fun and Brittany and Santana didn't mind all of the mistletoe hanging around either. Santana was a little worried about all of the PDA and thought that her parents might find out through word of mouth, but she likes Brittany too much to care. Santana wants to tell her parents, but she also doesn't want to be disowned; which is a very real possibility.

School is nice though. Santana's parents have accepted that Brittany is one of Santana's new 'best friends'. It was part of the truth, just not the whole truth because Santana believed that they can't handle the truth. Santana liked that she didn't really have to pretend to be someone else at school and that with the school work that they received; Santana could spend some more time with Brittany.

However, school started with an odd call to the principal's office. Both Santana and Brittany were called into the office like before, and, like before, neither knew why they were there. Mr. Figgins and Mrs. Eckhart were occupying the office when Brittany and Santana made their appearance.

"Please, ladies, sit," Mr. Figgins pointed to the two seats opposite of his desk. Mr. Figgins sat down at his desk while Mrs. Eckhart remained standing. "So, do you ladies know why you are here today?"

Mr. Figgins always acts like the students can read his mind. "No, sir," Santana responded.

"You're here today to discuss the significant improvement in Miss Pierce's grades," Mr. Figgins started.

Santana's first thought was that maybe Brittany would receive some kind of award or that the principal would congratulate her. Brittany thought along the same lines. The two shared a brief smile.

Mr. Figgins continued, "The rapid improvement in Miss Pierce's grades is unprecedented. It's very unreal…"

Now, the couple was confused.

"Brittany has never received a letter grade higher than a D in history and all of the sudden she's receiving an A in my class," Mrs. Eckhart, their history teacher explained.

"So, if there is something that you two would like to confess to concerning this, please speak up now," Mr. Figgins said looking from Brittany to Santana and back.

"Wait," Santana shook her head in disbelief, "Are you accusing us of cheating?"

Brittany's expression dropped when she realized what this meeting was actually about. She thought that for once she would be congratulated for her grades, but now all her hopes were crushed.

"Well, these changes didn't really start until you, Miss Lopez, started tutoring her…and dating her," Mrs. Eckhart added with a glare.

_Homophobic bitch!_ Santana's thoughts screamed as she tried to hold her tongue, "I'm honestly appalled by this accusation! A student who's been having a hard time in school finally understands the material and your first thought is that she must be cheating! You both should be proud as educators that Brittany is doing so well! Brittany's success is because of hard work and perseverance and not as a result of cheating!" Santana was fuming. She was basically yelling at the principal.

"Santana, it's okay," Brittany placed a hand on Santana's shoulder in an attempt to calm her down. Santana took in a deep breath and let it out, trying to calm herself down.

Brittany chimed in on the conversation, "First of all, I'm not cheating, I would never cheat. The reason why I had such bad grades is because I honestly didn't understand the material. If I would have cheated I would have gotten better grades in 9th and 10th grade. Anyway, Santana has been teaching me everything in a way that I actually understand it. Santana actually believes that I have a learning disability called Dynomita…"

"Dysnomia," Santana corrected.

"Yeah, that, and it's where a person has a hard time recalling a word or a name from memory. We've been working on things that help me to recall things better. We associate things with colors, pictures, and songs. I've even been keeping a journal to help me remember specific things that happened during the day so that I can remember by reading what I wrote. It has been helping me a lot," Brittany explained.

"I don't buy it. Brittany has had too much of a dramatic improvement in her grades for this to be the case," Mrs. Eckhart said.

Santana was about to rip her head off, "That's just because no one has ever cared enough to notice! Plus, tests in your class count for 75% of our grades and the tests are essays. How do you explain cheating on that?!"

"Miss Lopez, I will not accept such tone. If you continue to talk to me in such a manner, I'll be forced to give you a detention!" Mrs. Eckhart threatened.

"Well excuse me for being upset that my girlfriend was really happy about getting such good grades after all of her hard work only to be put down by you! Plus, I think that the only real reason this concern was brought up is because we're a lesbian couple and if that's the case, I wouldn't mind getting the ACLU involved!" Santana continued to practically shout.

"That's it Miss Lopez! You'll be receiving a detention from me for the next week!" Mrs. Eckhart followed through on her threat.

"I don't think that will be necessary Mrs. Eckhart," Mr. Figgins jumped in. "Miss Lopez has a point about Miss Pierce. However, your behavior was unacceptable, please apologize to Mrs. Eckhart and you will not receive detention."

Santana didn't want to apologize to the homophobic bitch, but she decided that it was probably in her best interest to do so. "I'm sorry Mrs. Eckhart," Santana spat the words. The apology left a nasty, acidy taste in her mouth.

"Now, I can't just drop these accusations of cheating. However, I will schedule an appointment with our school psychologist. If she determines that Miss Pierce has a learning disability, then we will forget about this whole thing," Mr. Figgins suggested.

Brittany really didn't want to go to a psychologist and Santana knew it. Brittany looked at Santana with worried eyes and Santana looked back with encouraging ones. "Okay, I'll do it," Brittany said never looking away from Santana's encouraging stare.

"I'll set up an appointment for tomorrow," Mr. Figgins replied as he wrote down some information.

The couple then stood up and silently left Mr. Figgins's office. Santana took a second to look over her shoulder at Mrs. Eckhart who looked exasperated. A small smile pulled at the corner of her mouth before she turned back around to leave.

Once they were safely in the hall, Brittany began to cry. "What's wrong, sweetheart?"

"I-I don't want to go to a psychologist, you know how I feel about that," Brittany replied as she wrapped her arms around Santana.

"I promise, it's not going to be anything like when you had that dream about being on an alien space ship," Santana replied with a smile as she ran her hand up and down Brittany's back reassuringly.

"Are you sure? I mean, aliens aside, I hate going to doctors," Brittany never let go of Santana.

"I promise. And don't worry, this kind of doctor isn't going to give you a shot and isn't even allowed to have anything sharp to touch you with," Santana continued.

"This doesn't really seem like a doctor then. I mean even my dentist has scary sharp things," Brittany explained.

"Yeah, well psychologists are at the very bottom of the doctor food chain. They only really ask you questions and stuff. It's no big deal."

"Can you go with me?" Brittany wondered as she held Santana a little closer.

"I don't think so, baby. But if you want, I can wait outside for you," Santana suggested.

"I'd like that," Brittany replied.

"Sounds like a plan."

* * *

Santana paced frantically outside the school psychologist's office. This meeting was taking place during eighth hour so Santana had nothing but Brittany to focus on. Santana didn't like that Brittany had to meet with the school psychologist. Santana knows that Brittany really doesn't like going to doctors, even the really harmless kind. _This psychologist chick better be nice to her or I swear to God I'll…_

Brittany stepped out of the psychologist's office before Santana could finish her thought. "Brittany, how did it go?" Santana wondered as she placed a hand on her girlfriend's arm.

"Good, Ms. Jacobson is really nice. She gave me this," Brittany handed the piece of paper to Santana. "She said that you might be right about the Dynamite and referred me to Dr. Schaeffer."

"Dysnomia," Santana corrected before asking, "So she's going to tell Mr. Figgins that you're innocent, right?"

"Yeah, she said that you've been doing all the right things to help me learn. Ms. Jacobson said that you must be one hell of a girlfriend," Brittany added.

"Oh yeah?"

"Yeah," Brittany replied before kissing Santana. After pulling away from Santana, Brittany said, "I'm going to have to talk to my parents about this tonight, so I'm not going to be able to come to band practice."

"That's alright, baby, I understand," Santana sympathized with her girlfriend. "Do you need me there with you?"

"No, you should go to band practice. It's not a big deal."

"Are you sure?"

"Positive," Brittany assured Santana as she laced their fingers together and led Santana up to the library for tutoring.

* * *

It's been a week since Brittany's meeting with the school psychologist. Brittany's parents were so upset with themselves for never noticing that Brittany had a problem. They were trying to make it up to her, but Brittany didn't really need them to make anything up to her. Brittany was just worried about having to go to another doctor.

Brittany had her first session with Dr. Schaeffer later today and she was terrified because he works in a hospital. Santana tried to calm her down, but nothing was working. Santana tried joking with Brittany, holding her, telling her stories, and telling her why she loved her, but nothing seemed to calm her down. Brittany had explained that Ms. Jacobson didn't seem so scary because she worked at the school, but she didn't want to go to someone outside of school. It was all just too scary for her.

Santana, of course, went with Brittany and the rest of the Pierce family to the doctor's office. Brittany was visibly shaking. "It's going to be okay. I promise. This doctor is just like Ms. Jacobson," Santana attempted to reassure Brittany.

Brittany didn't reply, she just continued to be freaked out. Santana didn't fully understand why Brittany was so shaken by doctors, but she did understand that she hated seeing Brittany so vulnerable. Santana placed a kiss to Brittany's forehead, "I'll be right here if you need me."

Brittany simply nodded and walked into the office. After a while, Brittany and Dr. Schaeffer left his office to get scans of Brittany's head. They then disappeared back into Dr. Schaeffer's office.

After what seemed like days, Brittany walked back out of the office. She didn't look as shaken as she did when she entered the office earlier and Santana was grateful. "Can you guys come inside?" Brittany wondered.

The Pierces and Santana got up and walked into the doctor's office. Dr. Schaeffer was an older man with a grin a mile wide. "Hello everyone, please take a seat," Dr. Schaeffer instructed. Everyone did as they were told. Santana sat on the couch next to Brittany and immediately placed her hand in Brittany's. Brittany laced her fingers with Santana and gently squeezed her hand; a silent 'thank you'. This transaction didn't go unnoticed by the doctor.

"You must be Santana," Dr. Schaeffer nodded towards Santana.

"Yes, sir," Santana replied.

Dr. Schaeffer smiled and continued, "Well, I have confirmed your diagnosis. I do believe that Brittany has Dysnomia. I'm stunned that you discovered her condition when it has flown under the radar for all of these years. You must really care for Brittany."

"I do," Santana replied as her face turned a slight red from blushing.

"Well, the exercises that you two have been doing in your tutoring sessions are quite similar to treatments that I would recommend for Brittany. Usually for patients with this learning disorder I would recommend: speech therapy, semantic feature analysis, and circumlocution exercises. However, it seems as though you two are already doing these things in ways that work for Brittany. As evident by her grades, her condition has been improving. Therefore, I would recommend that you don't change anything. Continue doing exactly what you have been doing. However, I would like to add medication to Brittany's treatment. Brittany doesn't have any head trauma or any deterioration in her brain. Thus, the medication and the learning methods that Santana has already laid a foundation for are all that I can really prescribe," Dr. Schaeffer explained with a grin.

"So, all she'll have to do is take the medication and continue learning the way that Santana is teaching her?" Mr. Pierce asked for clarification.

"Exactly," Dr. Schaeffer replied. "I would like to check up on Brittany every month to follow her progress and to take routine scans to insure that there is nothing wrong in the old noggin."

"What kind of medication will she have to take?" Mrs. Pierce wondered.

"I'll be prescribing a small dosage of Aricept. She'll take it once a day. I recommend taking it with a full glass of water and some food; however, it's not required," Dr. Schaeffer continued to babble about the drug, its effects, and what it will do to help Brittany. Brittany tuned out, not really understanding or caring to understand all of his doctor babble. She figured that Santana would explain it to her later.

"I don't have to take any special classes, right?" Brittany squeezed Santana's hand a little worried. Santana looked at Brittany and placed a hand lovingly on Brittany's arm.

Dr. Schaeffer smiled at the gesture, "No, but I will be giving you permission to take special standardized tests and a note for your teachers to give you more time on tests if needed. This is because patients with Dysnomia usually have a hard time completing tests on time due to the fact that they have a difficult time recalling information as quickly and easily as most people."

"Okay," Brittany sighed with relief and Santana sighed with her.

"Also, familial support is very important with people with this particular learning disability. It seems as though you have plenty of support from your girlfriend and parents," Dr. Schaeffer smiled.

"Yeah, they're pretty great," Brittany smiled at Santana. "I'm just glad that my life doesn't have to change because of my…conditioner…condition."

"See, you have problems locating words, but you take your time, think about the word, and put two and two together and eventually come to the right word. You're already making a significant amount of progress," Dr. Schaeffer explained.

"Thank you, doctor," Mr. Pierce said as he got up and shook Dr. Schaeffer's hand. Dr. Schaeffer gave Mr. Pierce the prescription for Brittany.

"Santana, can I speak to you for a moment alone?" Dr. Schaeffer wondered.

Brittany looked at Santana worried. "I'll be fine," Santana assured Brittany even though Santana didn't have a clue as to why Dr. Schaeffer wanted to talk to her.

"I'll be outside," Brittany said as she left the room with her parents.

"So, what's up doc?" Santana wondered as she plopped back down on the couch.

"You're Maria Lopez's daughter, right?"

Santana's blood ran cold. Her mom is the head of cardiothoracic surgery at the hospital that she's sitting in, but she didn't think that Dr. Schaeffer would ask her about it. "Yes, sir," was all Santana could muster as a reply.

"Does she know?" he wondered.

"Know what?" Santana was pretty sure what he meant, but she wanted him to say it.

"Does she know about you and Brittany?" he clarified.

"No," Santana kept her answers short.

"You should tell your parents. I can tell that it's eating at you. It's not healthy to keep something this big from the ones you love. Plus, I think your mother would understand."

"You clearly don't know my mom. She would disown me if she ever found out," Santana sighed at the truth to her words.

"What you have with Miss Pierce is special. I can see it in the way you two interact, in the way you two look at each other, in the way that you two both know what the other is saying without any words… It's special."

"Thanks Dr. S, but I don't think that I can. I love Brittany more than anything and I want to tell the world about us, but I can't lose my family. I don't know what I would do if they reacted badly," Santana looked to the ground.

"You'll never know unless you try."

"I have a pretty good idea," Santana's reply was filled with sorrow.

"You shouldn't have to hide who you are."

"I shouldn't but I do. I have to. I really don't want to talk about this with you," Santana stood up to leave.

"Just take my suggestion into consideration. I mean, what's the alternative? What if they find out from someone else, or something they see? They're reaction could be much worse than if you just tell them," Dr. Schaeffer said with a look in his eyes that read 'I'm only trying to help'.

"Thanks doc, I'll think about it. Thanks for helping Brittany," Santana said as she left his office.

Brittany was waiting outside the office with her parents when Santana emerged. Brittany jumped up and ran over to Santana. _What could the doctor possibly want to talk to Santana about?_ Brittany wondered.

Brittany then read Santana's slightly sad, slightly confused expression and wondered, "What's wrong?"

_She reads me like an open book,_ Santana thought. "Dr. Schaeffer knows my mom. He said that I should come out to my family, but I'm not sure."

"I think you should," Brittany suggested with a shrug and a kind smile.

"Then I will," Santana said without having to think about her response. "I'm going to wait until after my mom's birthday a few weeks from now, but I'll tell them."

"I'm really proud of you," Brittany said as she hugged Santana close to her.

"Thanks," Santana tried to not look like she was freaking out. What would she say to her parents? What would she do if they reacted badly? What if they disown her? What if they're okay with everything?

Brittany noticed Santana's façade, "It's okay to be scared."

Santana couldn't help the tears that flowed freely from her face, "What if they hate me?"

"No one could ever hate you," Brittany wiped a few of the tears from Santana's face. Santana didn't want to continue to voice every last concern to her girlfriend because she didn't want Brittany to know just how scared she was.

"I love you," Santana whispered to Brittany.

"I love you too," Brittany replied.

Mr. and Mrs. Pierce watched the exchange but decided not to comment. They knew that they shouldn't butt in on the situation. "Let's go get this prescription filled," Mr. Pierce suggested. Everyone agreed and left for the pharmacy to take care of Brittany.

* * *

**Author's Note:**

****I know, it's a short chapter, but I feel like it moves the story in the direction I want it to. Thank you to all who have reviewed, I appreciate the time that you take to comment on my work.

The song for this chapter is "Welcome To The Breakdown" by I Fight Dragons. If you haven't heard of them go to their website, download some free music, and have your ears explode from their awesomeness!


	11. Go, Go, Go!

Ever since Brittany was officially diagnosed with Dysnomia, she was having a much easier time in school. Teachers sympathized with Brittany and how hard she must be working to get the grades she's getting. Brittany was also receiving more time to complete tests and she was happy that she didn't have to worry about completing tests on time anymore; that had always been a big fear of hers. Brittany works really hard and she didn't want to get bad grades simply because she couldn't finish tests. Now she doesn't have to worry about that.

Everything is really normal. Life is normal.

"What's happening hot stuff," Santana greeted as she sat down next to Brittany in the lunch room.

"I actually wanted to talk to you about something," Brittany began. "When I met with Dr. Schaeffer, I told him that I do dance. I told him that it was the only real thing that I understand without having to try. He suggested that I do more dancing and stuff because it might help me with assassinating movements with learning…or whatever."

"I don't think you can assassinate movements," Quinn chuckled.

Santana shot her a glare, "You know what she meant." Then Santana turned back to Brittany, "Maybe you should join Go Club."

"What's that?" Brittany wondered as she took a sip of water.

"It's the school's dance club. They had practice last year at the same time as Speech and Debate meetings. We could always hear them practicing across the hall. They seem to have a lot of fun and it's a way to gets your dance on."

"Watch out, you're starting to sound like me," Brittany poked Santana in the side.

"I don't mind," Santana pecked Brittany on the lips knowing that they couldn't really get their mack on with all of their friends around.

"When do they meet?" Brittany wondered.

"Not on Tuesdays," Santana shrugged. "Why don't we go talk to Mrs. Rodgers about it? She's the one who runs the club. I think she has an off hour right now."

"Let's go," Brittany hopped out of her seat.

Santana mimicked Brittany's movement and led the both of them out of the cafeteria and into Mrs. Rodgers office. Sure enough, Mrs. Rodgers was sitting at her desk. Mrs. Rodgers smiled at the arrival of the two girls.

"Mrs. Rodgers, can we talk to you for a moment?" Santana wondered.

"Sure girls," Mrs. Rodgers looked up from a pile of papers she was grading.

"I was thinking about joining Go Club. When does the club meet?" Brittany wondered.

"We meet on Thursday after school until five. I'm really excited that you're joining Miss…" Mrs. Rodgers lingered.

"Oh, sorry, my name is Brittany S. Pierce," Brittany introduced herself.

"Brittany, well it's nice to meet you and it will be great to have you in Go Club. Do you have any dance experience?" Mrs. Rodgers wondered.

"Yeah, loads," Santana replied for Brittany.

"I've been dancing since before I can remember," Brittany added.

"That's great! Well, I can't wait to see you tomorrow," Mrs. Rodgers smiled sweetly at the two girls.

"Thanks Mrs. Rodgers," Brittany replied as she turned towards the door.

After the couple exited the office, Brittany jumped with joy. Santana loved seeing Brittany this happy. "I can't believe we have a dance club at this school and I didn't know about it!"

"You learn something new every day," Santana practically whispered with an adoring smile.

"I can't wait!" Brittany skipped down the hall with Santana in tow.

"Slow down," Santana giggled as she tried to keep up with Brittany as they made their way back to the cafeteria.

"Sorry," Brittany said as she slowed down into a walk, "I'm just so…so…"

"Excited," Santana finished.

"Super excited," Brittany added as she twirled around.

Santana just watched her girlfriend adoringly as she skipped, danced, and bounced around the school's halls. _I need to get her this excited more often; she's just so freakin' adorable,_ Santana thought.

The rest of the day it was hard to get Brittany to focus on anything because she was so bubbly. Brittany couldn't contain her excitement and Santana loved the effect that dancing had on her girlfriend; anything to make her happy.

* * *

The next day, right after school, Brittany ran into Mrs. Rodger's classroom armed with her dancing bag. Seven other people that Brittany vaguely recognized were already in the room. Santana accompanied Brittany to the club, but she didn't intend on dancing at all because she doesn't really have any moves.

"Hey Brittany, it's nice to see you here. Is your friend joining too?" Mrs. Rodgers pointed to Santana.

"Oh no, I can't dance. I just came to give my support," Santana replied as she took a seat.

"Okay then. Before we begin, I have some sad news. We have to have fifteen people for us to be recognized by the school as a club. Since we've had such small numbers, they're going to cut our funding if we don't get some more people to join," Mrs. Rodgers explained.

Brittany's expression turned from jovial to somber in a matter of seconds, "I can't believe this club is going to go away. I just found it."

"Brittany, it's okay, we'll figure something out. We can save this club, trust me," Santana tried to reassure Brittany.

"Does anyone have any ideas about how to recruit more members?" Mrs. Rodgers wondered.

"You could do something for the pep assembly. It's in two weeks, so it's short notice, but if you perform in front of the school then everyone will know that Go Club exists and what it's all about," Santana suggested. This was the same way that Santana got more people to join Speech and Debate.

"That's actually not a bad idea," Mrs. Rodgers commented.

"But it has to be epic, or people won't notice," Brittany added.

"Yeah, but like what?" one of the dance kids wondered.

Brittany looked back at Santana and they had a silent, psychic conversation. "Maybe we could have a live band perform with us. People love live music and we could dance to it and it could be really awesome," Brittany suggested.

"What band could we get?" another dance kid wondered.

"My band could perform. We're pretty good. We do a lot of alternative rock music like Fall Out Boy, Blink-182, Alanis Morissette, etc…" Santana explained.

"Oh, hey, doesn't Fall Out Boy have that one song about dancing?" Mrs. Rodgers wondered.

"Yeah, 'Dance, Dance'," Santana replied.

"You guys are so great at playing that song," Brittany added.

"I think this actually might work," Mrs. Rodgers smiled. "But we'll have to get working right away. Do you have the song on your IPod?"

"Yeah, here," Santana fished her IPod out of her backpack and gave it to Mrs. Rodgers.

"We'll need to practice extra to get this right by the pep assembly. We might need to work every day after school. Is everyone okay with that?" Mrs. Rodgers wondered.

Everyone in the club nodded in excitement. "I'll tell my band and we'll practice and come to the Go Club practices to get the timing right," Santana said as she pulled out her phone to make a few calls to tell the band.

"Great, let's get started," Mrs. Rodgers said. Mrs. Rodgers put 'Dance, Dance' on and told the club to improvise for the first run through before they came up with steps.

As Santana called all of her band mates, she watched Brittany, mesmerized by all of her moves. Everyone in the band agreed to work with Go Club; mostly because they were afraid that Santana would unleash her wrath on them if they didn't, but partly because they empathized with the dying club.

"Wow, Brittany, I didn't know you were so good at dancing!" one of the kids in the club commented as the song ended.

"Yeah, girl, you've got some moves!" another dancer added.

"Thanks," Brittany blushed as she turned to Santana who was still on the phone with Quinn. Santana gave Brittany a thumbs-up and a sincere smile before returning to her conversation with Quinn.

"We'll work on an intro with the band once they're at practice tomorrow, but we'll probably start off like this…" Mrs. Rodgers began as she choreographed the song in conjunction with the students. The rest of practice was full of putting together the basic steps of the song. They tried to go through some memorization, but mostly they were just laying the foundation for what was to come.

* * *

The next day, Stress Management came to practice with Go Club. They all brought their smaller travel amps and borrowed the school's drum set for Tina to use. Go Club stayed extra late since the band was there. They worked out an intro and started to sync the band with the moves the club created for the song the other day. Everyone was having a good time, but finally they all had to pack up to go home.

"Wait, before we leave, you guys should watch them perform this song. They're really great," Brittany suggested. The club hadn't really seen the band perform the song because they were focused on their movements. The club agreed. "Make sure you do it like you normally do with the spins and stuff!" Brittany added excitedly before the band began.

Stress Management played through the song. They were sure to add all of their jumps and spins into the song to impress the club and fulfill Brittany's wishes. The club erupted into applause as the band ended the song.

"You guys are really great. We need to make sure we highlight some of those moves in our performance. We'll work on that on Monday, yeah? But for now, go home! Get out of here! Leave!" Mrs. Rodgers commanded jokingly.

Brittany helped Santana pack up her guitar and travel amp. Brittany carried the small amp and Santana carried her guitar. "Thank so much for doing this," Brittany said as they walked down to Santana's car.

"It's no big. I mean, you love dance and I love music. It's great that we get to do the two things we love together," Santana replied and added in a whisper that she didn't think Brittany would hear, "I would do anything for you."

Brittany smiled knowing that she wasn't supposed to hear that last part. Just then they reached Santana's car. Brittany and Santana put the guitar and amp inside and shut the trunk. Brittany, unable to contain herself, pushed Santana up against the Beetle and pressed her lips firmly against her girlfriend's. Santana was taken aback by the sudden forcefulness of Brittany, but she didn't mind, she thought it was hot. Santana melted into the kiss and wrapped her arms around Brittany's waist, pulling her closer until their hips met.

Brittany was the first to pull out of the kiss in need of oxygen and in need of saying these three words, "I love you. I love you so much."

"I love you too," Santana replied carefully moving a stray strand of hair out of Brittany's face. Santana wondered what had brought on Brittany's sudden forcefulness. Then again, she didn't really care what caused Brittany to do that, it was really freaking sexy. "We should probably get going, it's getting late."

"Yeah, probably," Brittany shrugged as she walked to her side of the car and slid into her seat. Santana did the same and started the car. "So, Mrs. Rodgers told me that she's going to give me a solo in the dance."

"Really?!" Santana exclaimed before she put the car in gear.

"Yeah, she said something about it being our idea and how I should get one and…"

Before Brittany could continue, Santana leaned over and captured Brittany's lips in a brief, but loving kiss. "That is so great. I can't wait to see what you come up with."

"I'm just worried that I'll suck," Brittany admitted.

"You are amazing," Santana looked seriously into Brittany's eyes. "You will be so great. I need to ask Mrs. Rodgers if we can film it so I can watch it over and over."

"Thanks, Sanny," Brittany slid her hand up and down Santana's arm. Santana didn't even really mind the new nickname; although if anyone else called her that, Santana would go all Lima Heights on their ass. Brittany's phone suddenly started to ring loudly in the small car ruining the moment. Brittany mouthed 'Sorry' to Santana before answering her phone.

"Brittany Susan Pierce!" Santana heard Mrs. Pierce yell through the phone.

"Sorry mom…yeah…I was at Go Club…yeah, the dance club…I know, I should have called…I'll be home soon…okay, love you…bye," Brittany was clearly being scolded by her mom on the phone.

"You're middle name is Susan?" Santana wondered as she put the car and gear and started driving. She figured that she better get Brittany home soon because it sounded like she was in trouble.

"Yeah," Brittany replied curtly as she put her phone away.

"It's pretty," Santana commented as she continued down the now dark road.

"You think so?"

"Totally."

"What's your middle name?" Brittany couldn't help but wonder.

"Marie," Santana replied.

"Hmm, Marie…" Brittany pondered Santana's middle name.

"What are you thinking about?" Santana inquired.

"I'm trying to come up with nicknames using your middle name, but I'm coming up empty. San-Ma, Tan-Rie, or maybe just Tana," Brittany rambled on.

"I like that last one," Santana replied as she turned into Brittany's neighborhood.

"But the last one doesn't use your middle name," Brittany pouted. "But I like it too," she added after a second thought.

"Hmm…Let's see…Oh, you could be Britt-Britt," Santana mused.

"It's less of a facefull than Brittany," Brittany laughed. "Oh, gosh, I meant mouthful," Brittany corrected herself.

"Hey look at us, making cute nicknames for each other. We're turning into one of those sappy couples," Santana commented as she turned down Brittany's street.

A smile a mile wide grew on Brittany's face, "I like being sappy with you. You're usually so 'business all the time' it's nice when you're just sappy."

"Only with you Britt-Britt," Santana liked the way the nickname rolled off her tongue.

"Whatever you say Tana," Brittany replied.

Finally the couple pulled up to Brittany's house. "Well, this is my stop," Brittany leaned over and kissed Santana goodbye.

"I'll see you tomorrow, baby," Santana caressed Brittany's cheek briefly before Brittany turned to leave.

"Bye, San," Brittany waved before she skipped up her steps and into her house.

Santana then left to her house. Santana walked inside to be greeted by her mother, "Why are you so late?" her mother wondered half annoyed and half too tired to care. Santana's mother works long hours at the hospital and usually comes home tired like a zombie.

"Band practice," Santana replied as she made her way upstairs.

"You're not usually this happy after practice," her father added before Santana could make it all the way up the stairs.

"Santana Marie Lopez, do you have a boyfriend that you're not telling us about?" her mother accused her.

"No, I don't have a boyfriend," Santana's face turned crimson red. _At least I'm not lying to them._

"You don't have to tell us mija, but it's very obvious," her mother pried.

"You can invite him over for dinner some time," her father suggested.

"Trust me, I don't have a boyfriend. I'm going to go do homework," Santana wanted to leave the awkward conversation as soon as possible. Her mother's birthday was a few days after the pep assembly and soon after that Santana is going to tell them about her relationship with Brittany, but not until after then. Santana didn't want to ruin her mother's birthday with the news.

Santana ran up to her room, not really caring about her homework. It was Friday after all, so she had until Sunday night to complete it. Instead she decided to text Brittany.

**7:32pm – My parents know that I'm seeing someone – Santana **

**7:33pm – OMG! Did u tell them? – Brittany**

**7:34pm – No, I'm not that brave. They just found out because, apparently, I'm that obvious. But they think that I'm dating some GUY and I don't want them to think that. I want them to know about you. – Santana **

**7:36pm – Sanny, u need 2 stop using proper grammar in txt. Tht last txt took up 3 pgs. :) – Brittany**

**7:36pm – Sorry, but I need your help, what should I do? – Santana **

**7:37pm – I think tht u should do what u originally planned. Ur scared thts ok. Wait until u'r ready. – Brittany**

**7:38pm – I'm just so confused – Santana **

**7:40pm – It's ok to feel tht way. Follow your gut. If it says 2 wait, then wait. Don't feel pressured 2 do anything u'r not ready 2 do – Brittany**

**7:41pm – Thanks for helping me through this, nena, I love you 3 – Santana **

**7:43pm – I love you too! 3 … Nena? – Brittany**

**7:44pm – It means 'baby' in Spanish :) – Santana**

**7:45pm – Oh, cool, I like it when u talk 2 me in Spanish ;) – Brittany **

The couple continued to text until late into the night when they finally decided to call it a night and reluctantly go to sleep.

* * *

Two weeks of practice, sweat, and lots of hard work has all led to this moment. During second hour, for the pep assembly, Stress Management and the Go Club were released to set up in the gym. Stress Management brought in all of their actual equipment; which was quite a lot of work. They had packed most of their instruments into the back of Mike's Volkswagen Bus (aka The Swagger Wagon). They set up as quickly as they could, but it still took them over a half hour to get everything set up just right.

Then the third hour bell rang and an announcement was made to send students to the gym for the winter pep assembly. The gym soon crowded with the entire student body of McKinley High School. Brittany walked over to Santana who was doing a final sound check. Santana looked Brittany up and down. Brittany is wearing black cargo pants; a royal blue, tight fitting tank top; black Converse; and a cute black hat cocked slightly to the side. She looks really hot.

Santana looked up, "Ready?"

"How do you get over stage fright?" Brittany wondered looking shyly to the ground, clearly afraid of performing in front of such a large crowd.

"I used to think that I was the only one in the room, you know, ignore everyone else. Now I just focus on the one person that I'm really performing for," Santana winked at Brittany.

"That could work," Brittany breathed out an uneven breath.

"You'll be great," Santana placed her hand on Brittany's shoulder and rubbed soothing circles into her arm to reassure Brittany of her abilities as the pep assembly started with the introduction of the basketball team.

"How can you be sure?"

"Britt-Britt, you are amazing. That's how I know."

Brittany took in a deep breath, "Okay, okay, okay, I got this."

"Yeah you do," Santana winked. She could tell that Brittany was still unnerved so she quickly stole a kiss in an attempt to calm her down.

"And now we have a special treat for you all. Since the Hockey team all got a fungus from improper equipment care and can no longer talk about their upcoming season, Go Club, our school's dance club, will be performing 'Dance, Dance' by Fall Out Boy." Mr. Figgins announced very unenthusiastically.

All eyes turned to the dance club who did a small intro where they stomped loudly in a four count before jumping and landing so their feet were shoulder length apart. Quinn and Santana did this movement with the Go Club. Then Santana did a pick slide on her guitar and Tina started the beginning drum solo. Santana clapped her hands to the drums and some kids in the audience joined. Quinn started in on the bass part and Mike came in with the lyrics:

She says she's no good with words but I'm worse

Barely stuttered out

"A joke of a romantic" or stuck to my tongue

Santana then came in with her guitar and the song continued to build. The dancers were now well into their dance routine and everyone in the crowd was staring in awe.

Weighed down with words too over-dramatic

Tonight it's "it can't get much worse"

Vs. "no one should ever feel like.."

Santana rand towards Quinn and ducked down so Quinn could roll over Santana's back; which they executed perfectly.

I'm two quarters and a heart down

And I don't want to forget how your voice sounds

These words are all I have so I'll write them

So you need them just to get by

Santana then whispered "We're going to show 'em how to dance" into the microphone. It's not what's usually said during this part of the song, but it fit better than the actual lyrics. Quinn and Santana joined in for backing vocals for the chorus.

Dance, Dance

We're falling apart to half time

Dance, Dance

And these are the lives you'd love to lead

Dance, this is the way they'd love

If they knew how misery loved me

Brittany led the dancers as they worked through the song. Everyone hit their moves perfectly. It was all going really well. Quinn and Santana did spins with their guitars behind the dancers.

You always fold just before you're found out

Drink up its last call

Last resort

But only the first mistake and I...

I'm two quarters and a heart down

And I don't want to forget how your voice sounds

These words are all I have so I'll write them

So you need them just to get by

There is a small drum solo where Santana and Quinn mimic the movements of the dancers which really accents how much they've practiced.

Why don't you show me the little bit of spine

You've been saving for his mattress, love

Mike drew a heart in the air with his fingers before picking up his guitar and jamming out to the chorus.

Dance, Dance

We're falling apart to half time

Dance, Dance

And these are the lives you'd love to lead

Dance, this is the way they'd love

If they knew how misery loved me

Quinn ran back towards Santana and Santana leaped completely over Quinn, spinning as she did so. This is when Brittany has her dance solo, but Santana didn't get to see much of it because she was coming out of her move and had to sing a few backup lines.

Why don't you show me the little bit of spine

You've been saving for his mattress (mattress, mattress)

I only want sympathy in the form of you crawling into bed with me

Brittany came out of her solo to be twirled around by Kyle, one of the larger male dancers. Kyle then quickly moved towards the back of the group.

Dance, Dance

We're falling apart to half time

Dance, Dance

And these are the lives you'd love to lead

The group continued their dance, doing moves that everyone in the audience marveled at. Santana sung backups as the final chorus came up.

Dance this is the way they'd love (way they'd love)

Dance this is the way they'd love (way they'd love)

Dance this is the way they'd love

If they knew how misery loved me

The instrumental intro repeats itself and Santana locks eyes with Kyle. Kyle nods and Santana runs towards him. Kyle has his hands cupped together at about his waist. Santana steps into Kyle's hands and Kyle spots Santana as she does a back flip with her guitar. Santana's biggest fear was that she was going to accidently kick Kyle in the face, but luckily for both of them the trick went off without a hitch. Another one of the dancers did a similar flip on the other side of the band. Santana quickly came in on cue, playing her guitar. Then as the lyrics came in, Mike sang the words alone first, then they added Santana, then they added Quinn, then they added Tina. Thus, all four band members sang the last two words together.

Dance, Dance

Dance, Dance

Dance, Dance

Dance, Dance

When the song ended everyone bowed their heads in unison and the audience erupted in applause and cheers. Then as the crowd calmed down and the dancers had thoroughly celebrated, Mrs. Rodgers appeared with a microphone in hand, "Join Go Club! We meet Thursdays after school in room 501. We'll see you there!"

Then Mr. Figgins got up to say a few words before dismissing everyone to go to class. Brittany ran up to Santana. Santana quickly set her guitar down to embrace her girlfriend. "You were so great!" Santana said, hugging Brittany closer to her.

"You guys were flawless, that was so good!" Brittany projected to the whole band.

"I can't wait to see the video," Santana replied. She saw bits and pieces of Brittany dancing, but she didn't really get to watch it all because she had to focus on the performance.

"Me either! Mrs. Rodgers is going to show it after school, so we can all see it," Brittany explained as the two finally separated from their hug.

"Awesome! I'll meet you in class, we just have to get all of this stuff back into the Swagger Wagon," Santana said as she turned to start packing everything up like the rest of the band.

"Do you guys need any help?" Brittany offered.

Santana shook her head no, "We've got it. Plus, I need someone to take notes for me in History. Lord knows that woman isn't going to wait for everyone to get back to start class."

"You trust me to take notes for you?" Brittany looked at Santana unbelievingly.

"Of course I do," Santana shrugged like it was the most obvious thing ever.

Brittany just smiled and kissed Santana on the cheek, "I'll see you in class, Sanny." Brittany then shouted and waved to the rest of the band, "Later guys!"

Everyone waved goodbye as Brittany walked away. Santana couldn't help but stare at her girlfriend's perfect ass as she strutted away. Mike nudged Santana in the arm, "You know, it isn't polite to stare."

"I think you have a little drool," Quinn added.

"Whatever," was all Santana managed as she continued to put her things away.

"Don't get all fussy with me," Quinn shot back before adding, "Sanny," in a sappy and ridiculous voice. Santana punched Quinn in the arm, but just went back to packing her things in peace.

* * *

At the end of the day, Go Club and Stress Management met in Mrs. Rodgers's room to watch the video. Mrs. Rodgers had the projector all set up and everyone took a seat. Brittany and Santana sat down next to each other. Brittany was nervous; she didn't want to watch herself if she messed up or something. Santana, on the other hand, was super excited to watch her girlfriend dance.

"Alright, well it looks like everyone's here. Without further ado," Mrs. Rodgers hit the play button on the remote and the video began.

Santana laced her hand with Brittany's and gave Brittany's hand a light squeeze in anticipation. The video started with Mr. Figgins introducing the Go Club. Then the dance started and the music came in. It was all as they had practiced. Santana never saw herself perform before and she thought that she looked a little dorky when she played the guitar; like she was focusing too hard. Then Quinn and Santana did their signature roll and Santana was actually impressed by how good it looked. She had always assumed that it made them look like a bunch of wannabes, but they actually pulled it off. Brittany loved watching how much fun Santana had playing her guitar.

Santana then focused on Brittany once the dance really started up. Brittany was fantastic. She didn't just follow the movements; it's like her body controls the music. Her arms conducted every note and her legs controlled the beat. Her body is a perfect instrument, making the music the band created into something unexplainable.

Santana loved watching Brittany as she did the one thing that she's always had fun doing - dance. Brittany couldn't believe that she looked so good dancing. She always assumed that she looked like a dork; like some of the people in her class do when they dance, but she actually looked like a dancer.

The video ended too soon. Mrs. Rodgers turned on the lights, "I'm so proud of all of you. We managed to create a dance to a song and perfect it in two weeks. You all did so well. This is really amazing."

"Can we have copies of the video?" Kyle wondered.

"I'll have copies made for everyone by our meeting next week," Mrs. Rodgers was already preparing to make a bunch of copies of the video for everyone.

"Thanks Mrs. Rodgers!" the room erupted into cheers. Everyone stood up and congratulated one another as everyone began to leave.

Once Brittany and Santana were alone in the hall, walking toward the parking lot, Santana commented, "You were so great. You _are_ so great."

"Not as great as you, did you see that backflip that you did with your guitar? That was incredible!" Brittany overly used her hands to express how amazing it was.

"I'm just glad that I didn't kick Kyle in the face," Santana laughed as she laced her hand with Brittany's. "Your solo was breathtaking. Literally, I watched it and I couldn't breathe."

Brittany laughed at how Santana reenacted being breathless, "Thanks, dork."

"Ouch," Santana covered her heart like she had just been shot there.

"Oh whatever," Brittany poked Santana in the side.

Santana decided to change the subject, "Do you want to come over to my house for tutoring today? We didn't get to really do anything during eighth hour because all we talked about was the pep assembly. The library is closed this late and the local library gives me the creeps. Plus, my mom is working late tonight and my dad is in Chicago on business. So what do you say?"

"Yeah, sounds like fun. I just have to call my mom and tell her that I'm going to be at your place," Brittany said as she pulled out her phone to call her mother.

Santana didn't usually eavesdrop on people's phone conversations, but she just couldn't help herself. "Mom!" Brittany complained in that voice she uses only when her mother says something about Santana and Brittany and shenanigans.

Santana laughed audibly at the relationship between Brittany and Mrs. Pierce. Brittany stuck her tongue out at Santana who just continued to laugh. _God, I love her,_ Santana thought as Brittany ended the call with her mother.

"Okay, we can go to your place," Brittany smiled as she reached her hand out for Santana to take. Santana quickly obliged. They both loved how perfectly their hands fit together like they were made for each other. They then walked down to the parking lot, got into Santana's car, and drove to the Lopez's residence.

* * *

**Author's Note:**

1.) I know NOTHING about dance and I don't claim to. So if there are any aspects of the dancing scene that are completely inaccurate, I do apologize.

2.) Fluffy. I know this chapter is really fluffy and you're wondering to yourself "When is there going to be some more substance to this…I mean seriously gosh." Don't get your panties in a bunch because I feel a storm coming.

"I Wanna Dance With Somebody" by Whitney Huston


	12. It's Not Okay

The teens arrive at Santana's house where they plan on doing their tutoring session. Santana hops out of the car and slings her backpack over her shoulder. Brittany does the same with her cute 'My Little Pony' backpack. Brittany has only been to Santana's house a few times before and she was happy that she got to come over today.

Santana led the way into her house. "Do you want something to eat or maybe something to drink?" Santana wondered as they set their things down in the living room.

"No, I'm good, thanks Tana," Brittany replied as she sat down between the couch and coffee table in the living room. The only times that Brittany has been to Santana's house, they do tutoring stuff, and they always worked on the coffee table in the living room.

"Okay," Santana sat down next to her girlfriend and began pulling out a few things from her backpack. Brittany did the same.

Tutoring started off normally. They began with talking about which classes Brittany needed help in and then they started going over notes and looking at homework and prep for upcoming tests.

Then, seemingly out of nowhere, Santana asks, "What are your plans for college?"

Brittany was taken by surprise, "I haven't really thought much about it. I always just assumed that with my grades that I would never get in anywhere."

Santana had wanted to ask Brittany this for a long time, but didn't want Brittany to be discouraged. "Do you want to go on a college road trip with me? I mean, we'll have to run it by our parents, but I think…"

Before Santana could finish her reasoning for wanting to go on a road trip, Brittany pulled Santana in for a kiss. "I would love to go on a college road trip with you," Brittany whispered between kisses.

"Cool," Santana breathed before reconnecting her lips to Brittany's. Brittany puts her hand on the small of Santana's back and pulls her in closer, deepening the kiss. Brittany then slides her tongue across Brittany's bottom lip asking for permission. Santana immediately allowed Brittany's tongue entry into her mouth. Soon the kiss turned sloppy as their tongues battled for dominance.

"Santana?!" Santana heard her mother's voice behind her yell.

Santana's eyes shot open and she felt like her heart stopped. Santana immediately broke the kiss and jumped to her feet. "Mom, I-I…" Santana tried to form words. Brittany quickly got to her feet to stand next to Santana.

"What the fuck is going on?" Mrs. Lopez wondered with venom coated words. Santana had never heard her mom curse like that before.

"Mom, I-I…I'm…I'm…" Santana still couldn't form words. She was too scared to form words. She was scared of her mother and what her mother might do. Santana looked back to Brittany who tried her best to put on her supportive face, but Brittany was equally scared of Mrs. Lopez.

"What are you thinking? Are you just doing this to rebel? Do you have no morals anymore? This is disgusting!" Mrs. Lopez continued her tirade.

Santana desperately wanted to interject, to say something to defend their relationship, but she was frozen. She couldn't move, couldn't breathe. She couldn't bring herself to believe all of the things that her mother is saying to her…to them. Santana shot Brittany an apologetic look, but all Brittany saw was the fear in her girlfriend's eyes. Brittany has never seen Santana look so small and vulnerable before.

Mrs. Lopez yelled a couple of unintelligible things before adding, "…and all of those times that I let you spend the night at her house! Do her parents even know about all the dreadful things taking place under their roof?!"

"They know…" Brittany mumbled.

"So what? Everyone knows about this except for me? Everyone knows about the shame that you are bringing to our family except for me?!" Mrs. Lopez was fuming. "You," Mrs. Lopez pointed to Brittany. "This is all your fault!"

"Don't you dare talk to her like that!" these are the first words that Santana has formed since the yelling began.

Mrs. Lopez pushed Santana out of the way and is now face to face with Brittany. Santana fell to the ground with a thud. Santana wasn't so much hurt by the fall as surprised. Brittany moved to help Santana, but Mrs. Lopez blocked her from doing so.

"You are disgusting! You will stop seeing my daughter immediately!" Mrs. Lopez yelled as she moved a threatening step closer to Brittany.

"No," Brittany replied curtly.

"What did you just say to me?" Mrs. Lopez challenged.

Brittany took in a deep breath and said, "No, I'm not going to stop seeing Santana. I love her."

"You stupid little bitch!" Mrs. Lopez said as she brought her hand up. Quickly, Santana scrambled to her feet and stepped in front of Brittany. A smack landed on Santana's right cheek. Brittany flinched at the sound.

Santana held a hand to her burning cheek, "You can't slap the gay away, Mom." Santana's eyes filled with tears, _Damn she can pack a punch._ "I love Brittany. She didn't do anything wrong. Our relationship isn't wrong. And don't you ever call her stupid or raise a hand to her! She is my girlfriend and I will love her no matter what you say!"

Mrs. Lopez looked Brittany dead in the eyes and said, "Get the fuck out of my house!"

"If she goes, I go too," Santana replied.

"Good riddance," Mrs. Lopez replied. "You have thirty minutes to get your things and get out of _my_ house."

Santana kept Brittany safe behind her as they walked past Mrs. Lopez and up to Santana's room. Tears flowed freely from Santana's eyes, but she couldn't let the sadness stop her from getting a bunch of her things and leaving as quickly as she could. Santana pulled a suitcase out from underneath the bed and began filling it with clothes.

"What do you need me to do?" Brittany wondered as she suppressed her own tears.

"Start pulling shirts out of my closet," Santana directed. Brittany quickly began pulling out the shirts that Santana regularly wore and the ones that Brittany liked out. Santana quickly folded them and put them in the suitcase. Santana then grabbed a large duffle bag and continued to fill it with clothes. Then, Santana put her laptop and all of her other electronics and cords on top of the clothes. She then zipped up both. Santana began wheeling the suitcase out of her room and carried it down the stairs. Brittany followed her with the duffle bag. The teens then grabbed their backpacks and put them on their backs. They then made a quick exit.

Santana could hear the timer that her mom had set go off as they lifted the bags into the trunk of the Bug. Santana took one last look at her house before getting in her car. She saw her mother in the living room window. Her mother's eyes were so full of hate that Santana couldn't even believe that she was related to the woman. Santana felt sick to her stomach, but she suppressed any feelings of sickness to get out of there as quickly as she possibly could. Santana slid into the driver's seat and took off to Brittany's house.

When the two pulled up to Brittany's house, Santana completely broke down. She sobbed into the steering wheel. "What am I supposed to do?" Santana sobbed.

"You can stay with me. I'm sure that my parents won't mind," Brittany offered.

"Thanks, nena…it-it means a lot," Santana continued to cry. Santana didn't really know what think. Her mother had called her disgusting and then kicked her out of the house. She knows that she loves Brittany, but she can't help but think whether choosing Brittany over her family was the best decision.

Before Santana could continue thinking back to everything that happened, she heard her door open. "Come on, let's go inside," Brittany offered her hand to Santana who gladly took it. When Santana was completely out of the car, she wrapped Brittany in a tight hug. Brittany hugged Santana tight to her. "It's okay, I'm here. Everything's going to be okay."

Brittany pulls away from Santana briefly. Brittany leans inside Santana's car and pulls the keys out of the ignition. She then closes the driver side door of the Bug and laces her hand with Santana's. She then locks the car and leads Santana up her front steps and into her house.

Santana felt so numb that she didn't even really remember climbing the steps, or how she managed to do so. Lucky for her, Brittany has strong dancer arms. Brittany directs Santana to sit on the couch and says, "I'll be right back," before disappearing into the living room.

Brittany was gone for what seemed like an eternity. Santana curled her knees to her chest and buried her face in her knees. She didn't want Mr. and Mrs. Pierce to see her like this. While Santana hid her face in her knees, it seemed as though the world just disappeared around her. It was only her and the intense pain that she felt from being hated by her own mother.

* * *

Brittany walked into the living room where her parents are watching TV. "Mom, Dad, I need to talk to you about something."

"What's wrong?" her mother shot off the couch and was at her daughter's side in a matter of seconds.

Brittany hadn't even realized that she had been crying. She wipes a few of the tears away and tells her parents about what happened with Santana. Her parents stood still like statues in disbelief.

"So, I wanted to ask you if Santana could stay with us. She doesn't know what to do. All of her family lives in Chicago and she doesn't have anywhere to go," Brittany explained.

"Of course she can stay with us. She can stay here as long as she needs to," Mr. Pierce replied without hesitation.

Brittany ran and wrapped her dad up in a hug, "Thank you so much."

"Where is she?" Mrs. Pierce wondered.

"She's in the living room. All of her things are still out in her car," Brittany explained.

"I'll get everything out of her car, you take care of her," Mr. Pierce said. Brittany handed him Santana's keys and followed him to the front of the house.

When Brittany walked into the front room, she hated the sight before her eyes. Santana was curled up with her head buried in her knees and was still crying her eyes out. Brittany sat down next to Santana and pulled Santana into her. Santana turned and buried her face in her girlfriend's neck. The new contact didn't stop the tears from flowing. Brittany kissed Santana's temple and rubbed her hand up and down Santana's back in an attempt to comfort her.

Brittany had never seen Santana like this. She had never imagined that Santana's mom would react like this. Brittany was so utterly unprepared for everything that happened. Usually Santana is the strong one. Santana is the one with all of the answers. But now, Brittany is here, holding a broken Santana in her arms. Brittany ran through all of the things that she wanted to say in her head, but she didn't know if she should say anything just yet. Santana isn't very good at talking about her feelings, so Brittany would allow Santana to cross that bridge when she's ready.

Santana's sobs became silent with exhaustion. She wasn't only leaning on Brittany for comfort and moral support, but to just keep her from falling over and passing out. She was weak – emotionally and physically – and she didn't know how she could possibly recover from this mess. The mess that she created. She should have told her mother. Her mother shouldn't have had to find out the way she did. _It's all my fault. My mother hates me and it's my fault,_ Santana thought as she pushed herself further into Brittany's embrace.

After about an hour of sitting on the couch, Brittany suggested, "We should go upstairs honey."

Santana simply nodded in response. Brittany wrapped her arm around Santana's waist to help her up the stairs and into her room. Santana's room, for now, is going to be the guest bedroom. But neither teen wanted to be alone, so Brittany decided to just go to her room instead. Santana lied down on Brittany's bed. Brittany climbed onto her bed and cuddled into Santana's back. Brittany wrapped an arm around Santana's waist and pulled Santana closer to her.

"It's okay, everything's going to be okay," Brittany cooed.

"No, no, it's not," Santana mumbled into the sheets. Brittany just waited for an explanation, not wanting to push Santana to explain if she wasn't ready. "It's not okay. My mom hates me."

Brittany didn't want to defend the woman. Brittany hated Santana's mom for she did to Santana, but Brittany didn't want Santana to think that her family abandoned her. "She doesn't hate you Sanny. She just doesn't understand. Give her time."

"She almost slapped you, Britt! How can you defend her?!" Santana turned to face Brittany.

"I just have to believe that she still loves you. Because she does still love you… I love you," Brittany brushed a lock of hair out of Santana's face.

"You're too nice for your own good," Santana smiled for the first time since the incident.

"One of my many talents," Brittany kissed the top of Santana's head.

"I'm so lucky I have you," Santana pressed her forehead against Brittany's.

_If you were lucky to have me then you wouldn't be crying right now. Your mom was right, this is my fault. If we hadn't started seeing each other than you would have never gotten kicked out of your house,_ Brittany thought.

As if Santana could read Brittany's mind, she added, "No matter what anyone says or what happens, I'm lucky to have you." Even though Santana's words conveyed that she was a little more hopeful, tears continued to escape from her eyes. Brittany remained silent and just held Santana until she finally drifted off to sleep.

* * *

Brittany noticed that Santana had finally gone to sleep, so she carefully moved out of her bed. She then grabbed Santana's phone off of her nightstand. She didn't want to leave Santana alone, even if it was for just one phone call, but she had to. Brittany quietly left her room and looked through Santana's contacts. Brittany smiled to herself when she saw the hearts surrounding her name in Santana's contacts. Then she found it, the name she was looking for. She pressed call and hoped to God that the person would pick up.

"Hello? Santana?" a man's voice came through the phone.

"Hi, is this Seth? Santana's brother?" Brittany wondered.

"Yeah, who is this?" Seth wondered.

"This is Brittany, we met during winter break," Brittany explained.

"Oh, right, Santana's hot girlfriend," Seth remembered.

"So she told you?" Brittany wondered.

"She didn't have to. I've never seen my little sister look at anyone the way she looks at you. Plus, you two were pretty obvious. So, what's up Brittany?" Seth wondered.

"Well, your mom kind of caught Santana and I making out in the living room…" Brittany began.

Seth had to interrupt, "Go Santana!"

"Yeah, did you miss the part where your mom caught us?" Brittany's tone was serious even though Seth tried to lighten the mood.

"No, I didn't. How'd she take it?"

"Not well. She completely freaked out and cussed us out and almost slapped me, but Santana jumped in front of it. Then she kicked us out…both of us…"

"Holy crap…" Seth's tone changed from total dude to empathetic. "Is she okay?"

"That's just it. She thinks that your mother hates her and she feels like her family has abandoned her. I know your down at Ohio State and all, but if you have a chance to come up here, I know it would mean a lot to her," Brittany explained.

"Yeah, of course. It's the weekend after all. I'll be up there first thing tomorrow. What's your address?" Seth wondered.

Brittany gave Seth her address and then said, "Thanks for doing this, she's been crying all night and just feel asleep not to long ago."

"My mom can be a total bitch sometimes. She means well, but, yeah, totally psychotic. I'll stop by home and see if I can talk any sense into her. How did my dad react?" Seth wondered.

"He's out of town," Brittany remembered Santana saying something about that between rambles.

"Right, I forgot about that. Jesus, I can't believe this is happening," Seth said.

"Tell me about it. Look, I'm really glad that you're coming up, but I don't want Santana to wake up and find that I'm not there. So I think this is going to have to be goodbye," Brittany explained.

"Wait, you two are sleeping together?" Seth's tone turned back to frat-boy.

"No! Is that all you think about?" Brittany wondered shocked that Seth would ask such a question about his sister.

"What? I'm a dude. I was just imagining you nak…" Seth didn't get to finish the word.

"Gross. Bye Seth," Brittany hung up the phone before waiting for Seth to say bye back.

Brittany then quietly walked back into her bedroom. Santana was still fast asleep. Usually Santana is a light sleeper, but she was so emotionally exhausted that she didn't even feel the bed dip as Brittany slid in next to her. Brittany delicately wrapped her arms around Santana. Before Brittany even knew what hit her, she fell asleep with Santana in her arms.

* * *

Brittany and Santana awoke to the sound of knocking on Brittany's door. Mrs. Pierce peeked into the room. Brittany began to sit up and so did Santana. Santana tried to rub the sleep out of her eyes, but she was still so tired.

"Santana, someone's here to see you," Mrs. Pierce said.

"If it's my mom tell her that I don't really want to talk to her right now," Santana groaned as she flopped back onto the bed.

"It's not your mother, sweetheart," Mrs. Pierce smiled as she let Seth into Brittany's bedroom.

"Seth!" Santana exclaimed as she all but leaped from the bed with newfound energy and into her older brother's arms.

"Sis, you're a hot mess," Seth commented as he tried to fix some of Santana's bed hair.

"I know, I must look awful," Santana replied as patted some of her hair that was sticking up back down.

"I think you're beautiful," Brittany commented from the bed.

"You're biased," Seth added.

"I'm also right," Brittany stuck her tongue out at Seth.

"¿Qué pasó ayer?" Seth wondered as he looked Santana in the eyes. Seth looks a lot like Santana, only male and tall and he has a squarer face.

"Nuestra madre es psicópata. Mamá nos vio besarse y … kicked us out!" Santana realized that they were talking in Spanish and Brittany probably didn't follow the conversation.

"Yeah, I know that much. Why were you getting your mack on with your girlfriend when Mom was home?" Seth wondered.

"She wasn't supposed to be home. She was supposed to have the late shift that night," Santana leaned up against the wall and sighed.

"I talked to her before I came. She seemed to still be pretty mad, but you know Mom. She just wants what's best for you. Now, mind you, her vision of what's best for you and your vision of what's best for you are quite different, but what she did doesn't mean that she hates you," Seth tried to reassure Santana of Brittany's words last night.

"You weren't there. That was hate in her eyes!" Santana started to cry again. Santana didn't think that it was even possible to cry anymore. She thought that her tear ducts must be all shriveled up and unusable by now.

"She will come around eventually hermanita. Te lo prometo."

"I hope so," Santana replied as her brother wrapped her up in another hug.

Brittany simply watched the conversation from afar, trying not to but in, but not wanting to leave in case Santana needed her. Brittany was surprised that she followed the bits of the conversation that were in Spanish. Santana did wonders for Brittany as her tutor.

"I'll always be here for you, sis," Seth gave Santana one last squeeze before moving to the door and grabbing a bag. He handed the bag to Santana.

"What's this?" Santana wondered as she examined the bag.

"You didn't bring any of your toiletries with you. I thought that you might want to at least smell good since you're going to be spending some more time with your girl," Seth winked at Brittany. Brittany didn't like the way Seth objectified her, but she had to like him because he's Santana's brother.

"Oh my God, thank you so much!" Santana gave Seth another quick hug.

Seth then whispered into Santana's ear, "Brittany, she's a good one. Don't let her go. She's like really hot and she's really worried about you and she even called me when I know she doesn't like me. Hold on to this one."

"I will," Santana looked over her shoulder at Brittany and gave her a quick smile.

"Oh and you," Seth pointed to Brittany. "Take care of my baby sister while I'm not around. She acts all tough, but I like knowing there's someone looking after her."

"I will," Brittany mimicked Santana's words from just seconds ago.

"Alright, well, I think that my job here is done. I need to head back to school and finish up a chemistry lab. Are you going to be okay, or do you need me to stay for a little bit longer?" Seth wondered.

"It's okay, you can go," Santana said as she kissed Seth on the cheek.

"Love you, sis," Seth said as he walked out of Brittany's room.

"I love you to, bro," Santana replied.

Once Seth was out of the room, Brittany walked up behind Santana and wrapped her arms around her. "You called him?" Santana wondered as she leaned into Brittany.

"Sorry. I just knew that you needed to know that you have people who love you," Brittany kissed a spot behind Santana's ear. The action made Santana's legs weak.

"You don't have to be sorry. I wanted to thank you, I really needed that," Santana said as she placed her hands on Brittany's hands around her waist. "And I also really need this. I can taste my breath and it's gross," Santana pointed to the bag with all of her toiletries in it. Santana's words earned her the angelic laugh of Brittany.

Santana stood there in the taller girl's embrace for what seemed like a lifetime. She never wanted to move. If they could just stay like this forever, Santana would be completely content. But of course, life goes on.

* * *

A week has passed of Santana living with the Pierce family. It's also been an amazingly fun week. Santana gets to spend every waking moment with her girlfriend. Also, Mr. and Mrs. Pierce are fun and hospitable. The Pierce family really did everything in their power to help Santana take her mind off of the events of last weekend. Even if her parents let her back into their house, Santana might never want to leave.

However, living with Brittany has presented its problems. For instance, Santana is around her girlfriend all the time and it's hard for her to keep her hands off of Brittany. But she has to be appropriate in the Pierce household. Brittany's parents are pretty cool about giving the girls some leeway, but it can still be hard to remain gentlewomanly all the time. Oh, and Lord Tubbington keeps sneaking into Santana's room and walks all over her in the middle of the night. With a normal size cat, this wouldn't be a problem, but he's called Lord Tubbington for a reason.

"So, how is Go Club going?" Mrs. Pierce wondered as the four sat down to dinner.

"It's really great. It's a lot of fun. After the pep assembly we got another six people to join, so the club is safe from extinction," Brittany explained.

"That's great, sweetheart!" Mrs. Pierce was happy that Brittany could do even more of what she loved to do.

As the conversation carried on, there was a knock on the front door. "I'll get it," Mr. Pierce said as he stood up from the table. Mr. Pierce left the dining room in a rush to get to the door. No one had any idea who it could possibly be.

Then, when Mr. Pierce returned to the dining room, he wasn't alone. Santana's father was right behind him.

"Dad…" Santana stood up from the table and walked over towards him. Santana's dad wrapped her up in a bear hug.

"Kiddo, I'm so sorry about what your mother did. Why didn't you call me?" Mr. Lopez wondered.

Santana began crying, "I just assumed that you would hate me too."

"Your mother doesn't hate you. She just doesn't know what to do. You know her. She always has an answer, but now she doesn't and she's freaking out. I want you to come home. She had no right to yell at you like she did and kick you out. You belong at home," Mr. Lopez said.

Brittany got a worried look on her face. The last thing that Brittany wanted was for Santana to be at home with her psychopathic mother who clearly hadn't resolved her issues concerning Santana. Brittany doesn't know what she would do if Santana got hurt like she did again.

"I can't go home, Dad. I can't go home when I know that Mom doesn't want me there," Santana replied.

"I really want you to come home and I know that she wants you to come home too, she's just too afraid to say it," Mr. Lopez continued trying to get Santana to go home.

"She shouldn't be afraid to say it, Dad. If she wants me home, then she'll tell me herself. I-I just can't go home to a mother who hates me."

Mr. Lopez's eyes were filled with remorse. He knew that he should have been there, that he should have been able to stop all of this from happening, but he wasn't. He wasn't there when his daughter needed him the most and now his family is broken. He just hoped that it wasn't broken beyond repair.

"Alright," Mr. Lopez gave up trying to convince Santana to come home because he knew that his words would never convince her. "If you're ever ready to come home, the door will be open."

"Thanks, Dad," Santana replied as she hugged her dad again. She knew that none of this was his fault and she wanted to be home with him, but she just couldn't face her mother. Just the thought of her mother sent a cold shiver down her spine.

"I love you," Mr. Lopez whispered to his daughter. With that, Mr. Lopez left and apologized for interrupting dinner.

Brittany stood up from her seat at the dinner table and wrapped Santana up in a hug. Brittany knew that Santana wasn't great at talking about her feelings, so Brittany just hugged the feelings out of Santana.

"What's on your mind, Sanny?" Brittany wondered as she pulled away.

"I'm really happy that my dad is trying to reconcile, but it's just not that easy, you know? I mean, you were there. I can't just go back," Santana cried into Brittany's shoulder. "I mean the things she said to us. I-I just…"

"I know, I know," Brittany cooed as she rubbed circles into Santana's back.

* * *

**Author's Note:**

I would like to thank those of you who have left reviews, it really does keep me going on this story. I appreciate any form of review/feedback/critique that you provide! =)

"Fix You" by Coldplay


	13. End of a Year, Beginning of a Journey

Santana has been living with the Pierce family for two months. She hasn't heard anything from her mother, but she does get the occasional phone call from her brother and father. She was happy to know that she didn't completely lose her family because of her lesbian relationship, but she still couldn't go home to a house full of hate. She just couldn't do it. Mr. and Mrs. Pierce understood and were willing to let Santana stay with them for as long as she needed to. Santana is really happy to know that she has the support of the Pierce family if not from her own. They already feel like a second family. Santana really couldn't imagine her life without the Pierce clan in it.

Santana woke up on Saturday, March 24th with plans to take Brittany to the Center of the Performing Arts to see a ballet of Peter Pan. They had watched Peter Pan the night before to get ready to see the ballet. Brittany was so excited, Santana was surprised to find her asleep in her bed.

Santana decided that she was going to wake Brittany up in a totally childish way. Santana ran up to Brittany's bed and jumped on it. She then proceeded to tickle Brittany awake. "Stop! I'm awake, I'm awake!" Brittany screamed as Santana continued her assault.

"Come on, we've got to get ready. I got us early tickets so we can hang out at the mall later," Santana finally hopped off of Brittany.

"That was evil," Brittany pouted as she sat up in bed.

"Sorry, nena," Santana kissed away the pout on Brittany's lips.

"It's okay. Just know that I'm going to get you back later. You won't know when or where, but I'm going to get you back," Brittany kissed Santana on the cheek and stood up to take a shower.

"And you say that I'm the evil one!" Santana shouted to Brittany who had just shut her bathroom door behind her.

* * *

The ballet was amazing, magical even. Brittany had never really been to a ballet before and was bouncing in her seat the entire time. They then walked around the mall for a couple of hours and grabbed some milkshakes from a diner near the mall before heading home.

The couple had an amazing day. They couldn't believe that even after being together for five months, they still went on dates that felt like they were on their first date. Everything was perfect and being with each other only made it better. They couldn't imagine not having each other in their lives.

When they were finally home, they both made their way to their respective bedrooms and changed into pajamas. They were both just really happy to get out of the dresses that they had worn to the ballet. After Santana was done getting dressed, she grabbed her laptop and went into Brittany's room. Brittany was just finishing pulling a shirt over her head when Santana entered.

"Knock much?" Brittany wondered as she straightened out her shirt.

"Not when I might walk in on something interesting," Santana smiled.

"Is that how you get your cheap thrills?" Brittany smirked.

"Nope, this is," Santana set her computer down and pushed Brittany up against her wall and pressed their lips together. Santana pulled away before the kiss could get too heated and she sat down on the bed.

"Tease," Brittany giggled to herself.

"You know it," Santana replied with a wink.

Ever since they started dating, Brittany and Santana agreed to take things slow. They were both so new to the whole being in a relationship with another woman that neither wanted to jump into something that they weren't ready for. They wanted to take their time and get to all the stages in their relationship at an appropriate speed that was comfortable for both of them. They both loved each other enough to be physical with each other, but they were both such teenage boys; they had no idea what they were doing.

"I wanted to go over some things with you about college. You want to major in dance, so I looked up a bunch of colleges that specialize in dance. I also tried to isolate schools in big cities because they'll have more career opportunities," Santana explained as she showed Brittany a list of colleges that she had put together.

"These are really good schools San. Do you really think that I'll get in?" Brittany wondered as she handed the computer back to Santana.

"Totally. You had a learning disability that you overcame, colleges eat that crap up. Now you're getting straight A's and you got a 29 on your practice ACT. I mean, you're doing awesome and they'll see that," Santana explained. Santana's list included Northwestern University, New York University, Fordham University, Berkley, UCLA, UC-Santa Barbra, UC-Santana Diego, and Ohio State University.

"I believe you, but I just never thought that these types of universities were an option. Now that I'm getting straight A's though, maybe they'll think about accepting me," Brittany shrugged. "You never told me what you are planning on majoring in."

"That's because I'm not so sure anymore. I mean, I was always going to major in pre-law, or political science and then go to law school like my mom wanted, but now I'm not so sure. I mean, I love music and I love film and visual arts. I was thinking of maybe majoring in something along those lines instead. It's my never ending internal struggle of impress my family and do what will make me successful, or do something that I love," Santana explained.

"Do these schools have good programs for you too?" Brittany wondered looking at the list.

_Awe, she wants to go to the same college as me. That's so cute,_ Santana thought before she replied, "Yeah, they all have great programs for me too."

"So what's the plan?" Brittany wondered.

Santana pulled out a map that she had already inputted into her computer. "Well, I'm guessing that our parents won't agree to a trip all around the country. So, we're probably going to only be able to visit the East Coast or West Coast schools. Since there are more West Coast schools on the list, I figure we should look at those ones. I have some family in San Francisco and some in Long Beach. I figure that we can arrange to stay with them while we're out there. We can hit Berkley first and then make our way south."

"Sounds like fun. Now all we need is for our parents to sign off on it," Brittany smiled.

"Yeah, I'll have to ask my dad," Santana's voice was distant.

Brittany mentally slapped herself, "I'm sorry, baby."

"It's okay. I'm making a bigger deal out of it than it is," Santana shrugged. Brittany placed a loving hand on Santana's shoulder. Santana decided to change the subject, "So do you want to go East Coast or West Coast more?"

"West Coast of course! Hollywood!" Brittany pumped her fist into the air. Santana couldn't help but laugh at Brittany's antics.

Mrs. Pierce entered Brittany's room without warning, "Santana, there's someone here to see you."

Brittany and Santana shared a look of confusion before Santana hopped off the bed and made her way towards the door with Brittany in tow. They knew that it couldn't be any of their friends because their friends would have texted or something before coming over. That means it's probably Santana's dad or brother coming over to see how she's doing.

When the two got to the bottom of the stairs, they couldn't believe who it was standing there. Santana's mother was standing in the Pierce's living room. "Mom?" Santana wondered in disbelief.

"Santana, sweetheart, I came by to talk to you," Santana's mother began.

Santana was so excited that her mother was here, but at the same time she was terrified of what her mother wanted to talk to her about. Mrs. Lopez motioned toward the front room for some privacy. Santana nodded and began to follow her mother. Brittany stayed close behind Santana. Santana turned around, "I really want you to come with me, but this is something that I have to do on my own, nena."

"Are you sure?" Brittany brushed a piece of hair out of Santana's face.

"I'm sure," Santana wasn't sure of her words, and Brittany knew that Santana wasn't sure, but Brittany decided that she'd just wait in the living room and if anything were to go wrong she would only be a short distance away.

"Alright," Brittany nodded her head.

Santana proceeded to follow her mother into the front room. "So, what did you want to talk about?" Santana wondered as she sat next to her mother on the couch.

"I'm so sorry, mija. What I did was wrong. I was scared and I took it out on you. I just don't understand, but I would like to understand. It's just hard for me, but I realize that it must be just as hard for you. I would like you to come home, mija. Help me understand," Santana's mom practically pleaded for forgiveness.

Santana wanted to just jump into her mother's arms and tell her that she forgave her, but something was bothering her, "Why the sudden change of heart?"

"I never meant to kick you out. It just happened. I miss you so much, but I didn't know how I was supposed to handle this sort of thing. So I talked to one of my colleagues at the hospital. You know him, his name is Dr. Schaeffer. He told me that as afraid as I am and as much as I don't understand what's going on or how to handle this, it's even harder for you. I didn't even consider what you must be going through. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry, mija. Please forgive me," her mother had tears threatening to spill out of her eyes.

"I-I don't know," Santana replied. Santana could forgive her mother for what she did to her, but she didn't know if she could forgive her mother for what she did to Brittany. "I'll be right back," Santana said as she left the front room. When she came back, Brittany was at her side, holding her hand.

"Hello, Brittany," Mrs. Lopez greeted as she rubbed a tear from her eye and attempted to put on her professional-looking face.

"Hi," Brittany returned.

Santana didn't really know how to tell her mother what she wanted to tell her, so she figured that she would just ramble until she got it right, "Mama, I know that you're sorry for what you did to me. I want to forgive you so much, but I don't know if I can just yet. I mean, it wasn't just me who you said those things to. It wasn't just me who you kicked out of your house…"

Mrs. Lopez cut her daughter off, "I understand, mija. I'm sorry, Brittany. I should have never said those things to you. You seem like a sweet girl. I was just scared and I was out of line…way out of line…I am so sorry. It would mean a lot to me if I could have your forgiveness."

Brittany smiled. Brittany thought that Mrs. Lopez was just a heartless witch, but apparently she's human and just made a mistake and she's apologizing. "I accept your apology."

"Thank you dear. Also, if Santana decides that she wants to come home today, I would like to invite you to dinner tomorrow. I need to formally meet my baby's girlfriend," Mrs. Lopez said. Both girls knew that it must be really hard for Mrs. Lopez to say all of this. They could both tell that she rehearsed everything that she was going to say. It wasn't that the words weren't genuine, just that they weren't easy to say out loud.

"I would love to come over to dinner!" Brittany replied excitedly.

"Britt-Britt, sidebar," Santana said as she turned to Brittany. She then whispered in her ear, "I'm not so sure about this. Can I really go home after everything that's happened?"

"Absolutely, you know how hard this is for her. I mean, it was hard for us at first too and it still is at times, but she's really trying. Give her a chance," Brittany always knew what to say.

Santana then turned to her mother, "Alright, I'll come home. You'll just have to give me a little while to get all of my stuff together."

Santana's mother jumped up and practically tackled her in a loving hug. "Thank you, mija. I missed you so much," Mrs. Lopez's tears finally came to the surface.

"I missed you too mama," Santana replied as they released from their hug. "I'll meet you at home; this will probably take a while." Mrs. Lopez nodded her head and hugged Brittany before she left.

After Mrs. Lopez was gone, Santana broke down into happy tears in Brittany's arms. Santana had never cried this much in the course of a few months. She never knew that she had it in her to be this emotional and this willing to just break down in front of someone. Santana didn't like that Brittany had to see her like this, but she loved that Brittany was there.

"Why are you crying Sanny?" Brittany just continued to hold Santana.

"Happy tears," Santana mumbled into Brittany's shoulder. Brittany just nodded in response and let her girlfriend cry happy tears into her shoulder until she was ready to pack to go home.

After a few moments, Santana pulled away from Brittany with a smile on her face that lit up the room. "Let's get me moved back home," Santana suggested, holding her hand out for Brittany to take. Brittany gladly took Santana's hand and followed her up to the guest bedroom. They quickly put all of Santana's things into bags and began carrying them downstairs.

They met at the bottom of the stairs by Brittany's parents. "Mr. and Mrs. Pierce, I love you both, and I only somewhat regret to tell you that I'm moving out and back home," Santana tried to sound professional because Mr. and Mrs. Pierce always got a kick out of it.

"We're so happy to hear that. We love you too sweetie and we love having you here, but we love that you get to go home to your family even more," Mrs. Pierce hugged Santana.

"Yeah, you're always welcome here, now leave, go, get moving, adios, goodbye," Mr. Pierce joked as he pretended to shoo Santana out the door. He then wrapped Santana up in a loving hug.

"Thanks so much for letting me stay with you guys for the past few months. I have no idea what I would have done if you all weren't so awesome," Santana said.

"We'll always be here for you darling," Mrs. Pierce added.

"Alright, well, I'll be on my way, wish me luck," Santana said as she turned to the door. Brittany followed her with one of Santana's bags.

Brittany helped Santana put everything in the trunk of the Bug. "Hey, if you need me, just call. I'm here for you," Brittany wrapped Santana up in her arms. Brittany is so happy that she's finally wrapping Santana up in her arms for reasons other than protecting her from her own emotions and pain.

"I will. Thank you so much, baby. Your family is amazing, you're amazing, and I can't imagine life without you. I'm really excited to move back home, but I'm kind of sad that I don't get to live with you anymore. I was really starting to get used to it," Santana pouted.

"I know, I feel the same way. But, I am so happy that you get to go home. I can't wait for dinner tomorrow night."

"Yeah, I wonder how that's going to go," Santana mused over a few situations in her head, one of which was an amusing food fight. Brittany opened Santana's car door for her and Santana slid in. Santana quickly started the car and rolled her window down.

"Text me when you get home so I know that everything is okay," Brittany requested.

"Absolutely," Santana replied as Brittany moved her head to the window and leaned in to kiss Santana goodbye. After Brittany pulled away, Santana breathed out, "I miss you already."

Brittany laughed at how sappy Santana has become since they started dating. Brittany really liked sappy Santana, mostly because she was the only one who got to see that side of her. "Goodbye Tana!" Brittany stepped away from Santana's car.

Santana shouted, "Bye, nena!" before she put her car in gear and made her way back home.

* * *

Yesterday, when Santana got home, it was a tangled mess of clichés. Santana's parents hugged her and told her that they loved her and that they were so glad to have her back at home a couple of hundred times. It was weird for Santana to move back into her room, but she liked that it was her room. Santana loved living with Brittany, but she liked having her own room back in her own house.

Tonight is the big night. Tonight, Santana's mother is going to _really_ meet Brittany. Santana wants for everything to go well, but she doesn't want to act anymore. She's been acting for a very long time around her parents; always pretending to be someone she's not. Santana promised herself that she wouldn't do that anymore. She was going to be herself, no matter who she was around. She was going to keep things very PG, but she wasn't going to pretend like Brittany was just a friend. Brittany is Santana's girlfriend and Santana loves her. Santana is going to make sure that her parents know that.

**4:31pm – So u want me 2 b there 5, right? – Brittany **

**4:32pm – That's the plan – Santana **

**4:34pm – I can't wait! – Brittany **

**4:35pm – Is it bad that I'm worried? – Santana **

**4:35pm – No, if u weren't worried, then u clearly aren't paying attention. – Brittany **

**4:46pm – Okay, what's that supposed to mean? #Confused – Santana**

**4:48pm – UR CONFUSED? Let me take a second to appreciate this moment… - Brittany**

**4:48pm – U should b worried, ur mom gave u a reason 2 b, but u should also know that everything will b fine – Brittany**

**4:50pm – I guess you're right 3 – Santana **

**4:51pm – I know, that's y I'm awesome. Now I have 2 leave or I'm going 2 b late. – Brittany**

It was only when Brittany pointed it out that Santana noticed the time. _Crap, crap, crap, and double crap,_ Santana thought as she scrambled around to get the table set. Mr. Lopez noticed that Santana was frantically placing utensils on the table.

He stopped her, "Santana, you should take a few breaths. I'll finish setting the table." Her father practically had to rip the fork in her hand away from her before Santana took his advice and took a few breaths to relax.

After what seemed like only a few moments of not-setting-the-table, the doorbell rang. Santana walked over to the door and opened it. Brittany stood on the porch in a bright pink button down shirt and nice blue jeans. The look expressed exactly who Brittany was without looking overly dressy or overly casual. Santana mentally applauded the well thought out outfit.

As Brittany walked into Santana's house, Santana greeted her with a hug and whispered into Brittany's ear, "You look amazing."

"Thanks, you look pretty great yourself," Brittany pulled an elevator eyes. Santana is wearing a tight-fitting black cardigan over a white camisole and hot skinny jeans.

Santana blushed a crimson red. Although Santana would never admit it, she loved it when her girlfriend checked her out and said that she looked amazing. Santana pretends to be modest, but she loves the attention she gets from Brittany.

"Hello, Brittany," Mrs. Lopez greeted as she came to the foyer.

"Hello, Mrs. Lopez," Brittany reciprocated.

"Come on into the dining room, we have dinner all set up. I hope you like Mexican food, I made Chili Rellenos Casserole," Mrs. Lopez said as she led the couple to the dining room.

Santana had to laugh at how stereotypically Mexican they were being with this dinner. They were having her grandmother's traditional Chili Rellenos Casserole and there were corn tortilla chips on a large plate with salsa and guacamole in bowls.

"Brittany!" Mr. Lopez has met Brittany a couple of times, so it was less awkward for him to greet her than it was for Mrs. Lopez to greet her. Mr. Lopez wrapped Brittany in a brief and welcoming hug.

"Hi, Mr. Lopez," Brittany giggled as she pulled out of his embrace.

"Please, help yourself," Mr. Lopez smiled as he waved his hand over the copious amount of food on the table. Mrs. Lopez had cooked enough food to feed an army. Then again, Mrs. Lopez cooks when she's nervous or remorseful, so the amount of food she made makes some sense.

Santana started putting food on her plate. She then noticed the confused look on Brittany's face. "What's up?" Santana wondered as she put a few chips on her plate.

"What exactly is in a Chili Rellenos Casserole?" Brittany's face scrunched up adorably in confusion.

"Lots of green chili, a ton of cheese, and tomato sauce," Santana explained. She put a small bite on her fork and lifted it towards Brittany. "You'll love it, I promise."

Brittany smiled and took the bite, "Mmm, you were right, that's awesome."

"Never question an Abuela recipe," Santana laughed as Brittany placed a huge portion on her plate followed by lots and lots of chips.

Santana and Brittany sat down with their food and quietly began to eat. They didn't really know how to start off the conversation and the room filled with a very apparent awkwardness.

"So," Mr. Lopez began, "tell us about yourself."

"Um, there's not a whole lot to tell. I was born in Texas, but I don't really remember much of it. I've been in school with Santana for what seems like forever. We never really hung out though. I mean, I was in a crowd full of jerks and she has always been a group of awesome and totally smart people," Brittany nudged Santana in the arm slightly. Santana's response to that was lacing their fingers together under the table. "Since before I can remember I've been in dance and I love it. Santana actually turned me on to Go Club, a dance club at our school, and it's really fun. I recently got into volunteering with Santana at City Hall. My favorite color is yellow…I don't know what else to say," Brittany shrugged.

"What kind of dance do you do?" Mrs. Lopez wondered trying to keep the conversation rolling.

"I do all sorts of dancing. I do ballet, tap, modern, and classical, but my favorite is hip hop," Brittany explained.

Santana's face was full of adoration at Brittany's little 'about me'. "She's an amazing dancer," Santana commented.

"I'm okay," Brittany blushed.

"This is a no modesty zone," Santana and Brittany looked at each other at the same time and smiled at their timing.

Brittany pressed her nose into Santana's shoulder, "You can't just make up rules."

"I totally can, it's like my thing," Santana retorted as Brittany pulled away with a smile still plastered on her face.

Mrs. Lopez watched the exchange. Maria noticed that Santana is a completely different person around Brittany. Santana is the little girl that she used to be. Santana is happy. Santana has been quiet and almost robotic for years now. It wasn't that she never looked happy, it was just that she seemed like she was in a trance; a trance that Brittany seems to have broken.

Mrs. Lopez couldn't help but notice the way that her daughter looked at Brittany with such adoring eyes and the way that the two trust each other on such a deep level. Maria knew that she had never seen Santana have this close of relationship with anyone. The closeness that the girls shared reminded Mrs. Lopez of when she first fell in love with her husband. How could she not accept a love so great? Maybe their love is unconventional, but it is true and it is pure. _They're in love, _Maria thought as she spooned some food into her mouth.

"How did you two decide to…well, you know, go out?" Mr. Lopez wondered with curious eyes.

"Well, I was having a hard time in school," Brittany began.

"And I was tutoring her," Santana chimed in.

"We had a mutual understanding and we clicked as friends immediately," Brittany continued. It was like they had their story rehearsed.

"We both thought that we were just best friends, but then we realized that it was something more…"

Brittany's face lit up, "When she came to my dance class, I think that's when it really set in that there was something more."

"Definitely."

"Oh, and I have a learning disability called Dysnomia. Santana figured it out like right after we met and tutored me accordingly, but didn't tell me for a while because…"

"…because I was worried about hurting her feelings. People have always treated Brittany like poop because she didn't really understand the material like other people," Santana added.

"Yeah and Santana had me start keeping a journal and write a lot of things down in my own way to understand everything. She said that it would be like writing letters to myself and that I could say things in the letters that I couldn't say out loud because it's only for me. Then I decided to start writing letters to Santana too and that's how we found out our mutual feelings for each other," Brittany squeezed Santana's hand expressing all of her love for Santana in the small gesture.

"Was it hard?" Mrs. Lopez wondered.

"Was what hard?" Brittany looked really confused and Santana loves Brittany's confused face.

"Was it hard to accept your feelings for each other?" Mrs. Lopez elaborated.

Brittany nodded, "Of course."

"It was no walk in the park. I mean, it was really scary. Your whole world is turned upside down. One day you have a certain mindset about yourself and the next you find out that everything you previously thought was wrong. Then there is the whole thing with worrying about other people…"

"…and freaking out because neither one of us has ever done anything like this before…" Brittany added her original fears.

"…and not knowing the consequences of your actions. The only thing that you know for sure is that your feelings are real and you can't escape them and that you don't want to escape them," Santana continued.

Brittany leaned over and planted a quick peck on Santana's lips. Mrs. Lopez panicked for a moment. She saw the love in their hearts and was fully ready to accept them, but she just wasn't really ready for that just yet. She had to mentally curse herself into calming down. However, directly following Mrs. Lopez's panicked face was a proud face. Mrs. Lopez recognized that what her daughter went through, and is still going through, isn't easy and that she fought for the person that she loved. Mrs. Lopez was proud of her daughter for making the hard decision. She was also thankful for Brittany standing by Santana's side through it all.

"So, we actually wanted to talk to you about something," Santana began. Before Mrs. Lopez could make any snap judgments, Santana continued, "Brittany and I are planning a college road trip and, with your permission, we would like to go to California to look at some universities there."

Mr. and Mrs. Lopez sat in silence for a few moments. They were clearly having one of their silent 'parent conversations'. Santana and Brittany waited patiently while the elder Lopez's decided on the next move.

Finally, Mr. Lopez broke the silence, "Sounds like fun."

"But you two have to be careful, you have to stay with family, and you have to make sure that you look out for each other," Mrs. Lopez amended.

Santana and Brittany bounced in their seats, squeezing each other's hands as if their lives depended on it. Neither teen could believe that the Lopez's had agreed to such a trip. They were preparing for their hopes to be squandered only to find that there really was a light at the end of the dark tunnel. They couldn't wait to continue planning the rest of summer and visit west coast colleges.

The rest of dinner continued with small conversations about Brittany and the couple's relationship. Even though the dinner started off on an awkward note, it finished with Santana and Brittany realizing that they were both welcomed and loved in the Lopez residence. Everything was out in the open and accepted…not just tolerated…accepted.

Santana relished the fact that she was loved by her mother and the fact that Brittany was equally loved by her parents. Then again, everyone loves Brittany. But it was nice to know that even after everything that happened, Santana could still sort through the issues with her parents with Brittany by her side. _I'm going to spend the rest of my life with this girl,_ Santana thought as she locked eyes with Brittany. Santana always got lost in those ocean blue eyes. Santana unconsciously bit her bottom lip as she stared at her girlfriend.

Brittany smiled. She loved it when Santana stared at her. Some people might find it creepy, but the stare wasn't a creeper stare. Santana's stare was so full of love that it was hard to look away from her warm, welcoming eyes. It was like Santana's eyes wrote an entire romance novel that words could never convey. It was love, it was pure, and it was from the one person who she loved more than life itself. _I'm going to marry this girl,_ Brittany thought. The thought brought a smiled to her lips.

Both teens could get used to the idea of having the other in their life forever.

* * *

**Author's Note**

Hey guys, sorry that it has been a while since I've last updated, I've been really busy with school this quarter. Here's a new chapter, I'll update soon. I hope you enjoy it. Please review. =)

"Cough Syrup" by Young the Giant


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